CHY Gallery

5 stages of homemade pizza with tomato and basil base sauce . So simple and quick to make and a fraction of the price of takeaway. The secret is to use the best quality strong flour and olive oil you can. Be patient and let the dough prove for long enough. Once you’ve made the dough you can freeze it for days you don’t fancy cooking from scratch. Win win. Happy Cooking!

Here I am on the @bbc ! Talking about how cooking to match my mood helps me.

The BBC rang me on Tuesday and I’ve just had my interview this morning. To say my anxiety was DEFCON 1 is an understatement but thanks to Nicky Gibson @infokgphoto @bankstudio7 and her amazing support, reassurance, expert technical skills with lighting and awesome tea making and the very lovely and calming Angela who interviewed me, I think it went well. It’s going to be on BBC online so as soon as I have the link I’ll share it with you. Happy Cooking!

I’m busy preparing for my Cookery demonstrations and talks on mental health and happy/healthy cooking. I’d love to hear about your favourite recipes for days you feel flat as a pancake or high as a soufflé!

HUGE love BIG KISS to Nicky Gibson and Kevin Gibson @infokgphoto @bankstudio7 for their continued support and encouragement of Cook Yourself Happier. Fantastic meeting with the NECC @neechamber this morning who are going to help me apply for funding, sponsorship and PR for CYH Cookery lessons and demonstrations, talks to promote mental health and end stigma. Happy Cooking days ahead!

Mr Hobbes pulling out all his best moves for tonight’s super simple, quick, lean mean grilled bbq pork chops, tomato & roasted garlic pasta with spinach. Happy Cooking!

This is where my cookyourselfhappier story began. 1999 at The Royal Highland Show Edinburgh. I’d just completed my Diploma in Food and Wine at the @edinburghschoolfoodwine Can you spot me?! I was incredibly shy and quiet and we were helping Claire Macdonald @kinloch_lodge prep for her Cookery demonstration. I was more than happy to be helping behind the scene. I used to get incredibly anxious if I thought I’d have to speak in public let alone do a cookery demonstration! I’m very happy to report my confidence and self-esteem has risen like a soufflé over the last 20 years. Happy Cooking!

HUGE thanks to the wonderful and kind @thefuddhist for posting this article which supports my cookyourselfhappier ethos and highlights the benefits of eating a Mediterranean diet for mental health.

I have to remind myself daily that even though I have bipolar it doesn’t have me. Thinking of everyone who is affected and has a partner, family member, friend who supports them. Let’s end the misunderstanding and stigma that bipolar disorder still attracts.

I really do ADORE @veronicadearly and her Sabatier sharp wit and on point observations. I can relate to this pretty much every day, can you?

I’m renowned for my incessant chatting but this rendered me speechless! I’m the happiest girl in the world. Simon and I have been together for 10 years. We’ve had some wild adventures together and he has been my constant through hell and high water. Here’s to the next chapter my love. #imgettingmarried #engaged #engagment #overwhelmed #speechless @infokgphoto @bankstudio7 for taking my photo and making me feel like a million bucks

HUGE thanks to the very lovely and talented chef @charltoncooks for her CYH collage. Snapped in a lemon grove in Tuscany, what more could a cook want?! Lucie is a FAB private chef who also went to the @edinburghschoolfoodwine. The world really is a village because we met working together in a kitchen in Northumberland. Happy Cooking!

In September 2017 I submitted an initial draft to a London publishers for my book idea “Cook To Match Your Mood” to my utter amazement I got a reply the same day saying if I could produce enough recipes and get the endorsement of mental health charity Mind they would consider publishing my book. I had already written a blog for Mind “Eating Healthy When Feeling Low” and appeared on the podcast Mentally Yours to discuss my bipolar and how my career as a chef has helped me for @metro.co.uk with the fabulous @yvettecaster and @ellencscott in London. So, I started to write and write. Lots of emails back and forth asking for my personal experiences of mental illness and 75 recipes. My idea was to have mood chapters and recipes to match how you felt on the day. Especially for days when you could hardly face the world never mind the kitchen. I’m not a qualified nutritionist and I don’t have any medical qualifications so I was very careful not to suggest ingredients can be an elixir to cure all but I’ve found healthy/happy cooking can help how you feel. Thanks to a very good friend who introduced me to a certain Hairy cookery loving motorbike enthusiast who was kind and patient enough to offer help and advice with my project and the HUGE help and support of some special chums I was good to go. 10 months later I submitted my first draft and waited anxiously for any feedback. Would they think it was a crazy idea and not like my work? I hadn’t been offered any help, guidance from the Editor so I was at their mercy. The verdict came back that I didn’t have enough medical evidence to support how food can help with ones mood. I was crestfallen. I had my project moved from a rapid boil of excitement to a tepid plate warming cupboard of disappointment. I shelved my idea and work. It has taken a long time for my enthusiasm and self belief to return and try again. Here’s to Cook Yourself Happier times to come. Copyright © 2017 to 2019 Catriona Macdougall cookyourselfhappier

A long overdue cookyourselfhappier catch up with my culinary partner in crime. Many a glen and Scottish castle we’ve been stuck in cooking away together.

A very simple but spot on sentiment thanks to fab @stacieswift . I know when I’m having a particularly awful spell I find it incredibly difficult to remind myself that it will pass. For every awful low there is a high with bipolar. I’m still learning to accept it and to try and not fight it. Work in progress!

This is a cheeky wee courgette and sweet potato rosti. A change from the traditional potato recipe. Super simple, grated sweet potato and courgette, season well and fry off in a little olive oil. I’m using them as a bread bun alternative to some home made beef burgers. I’m going to top the burgers with some mozzarella and avocado. Happy Cooking!

I LOVE @veronicadearly and her awesomely apt witticisms. She has nailed it yet again with this and I’m not sure if she makes T-shirts and mugs with this quote on but if she does I’m going to stockpile them. How many times has someone told you to cheer up, chin/pecker up, get out of bed the right side, pull your socks up? The list of unsympathetic, useless and thoughtless suggestions is endless. I remember someone telling me I sounded awful one morning when I was having a particularly horrendous bout of bipolar, but had perked up a bit in the afternoon. As if depression and anxiety is a choice we make.

3 of my favourite things, strong cup of builders tea, hot cross buns and recipe research. @ottolenghi book is gorgeous with so many quick and easy recipes. I listened to him being interviewed on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 and he comes across as such an intelligent, articulate and kind man. Also a culinary genius. Happy Cooking!

This is the gorgeous garden @ttt_fitness used for the food styling shoot. The lady who owns it is dedicated to its upkeep and it’s a life times work. A testament to what passion, interest and years of hard work can look like.

This sumptuous feast of deliciousness is the work of my gorgeous lovely cousin @ttt_fitness in #australia She is a PT and has started a catering company called Graze. Not only is she incredibly fit and healthy but she cooks as well, a winning combination. This was for a wedding party in #victoria and really does look too good to eat. Happy Cooking!