Singles, be relegated to TV dinners and takeout no more!

With her blog “Gourmet Recipes for One” personal chef and cooking instructor Karen Covey is helping singles eat fresh, uncomplicated, good food.

“There is a preconceived notion that cooking for yourself has to be this pathetic dinner.” said Covey. “But everyone has to eat. Why would you make dinner for yourself any less fun or festive than if someone was coming for dinner?”

Covey, a Mattapoisett resident, learned this lesson while going through a divorce.

“I had pretty much stopped cooking for the time I was going through my divorce. One day I realized I wanted to get back in the kitchen. It was therapeutic for me,” she said.

From the age of six, Covey’s life had revolved around food as she worked at her parents’ Vermont restaurant and later got a job as the creative director of a food magazine.

With “Gourmet Recipes for One,” Covey took what she’d learned from her father about sourcing fresh ingredients and challenged herself to create new recipes that avoided the dreaded leftovers.

“I began the website as a way to document what I was cooking for myself,” she said. “It became kind of a challenge.”

Covey said her blog struck a chord with other singles and even won Best Consumer Epicurean Website from Folio Magazine.

“It seemed like there were a lot of people out there going through the same thing,” she said.

Seasonal cooking with local ingredients is a main focus for Covey, who said she is often inspired to create a new recipe after a trip to the farmer’s market. Plus, she said, “Shopping at a farmer’s market makes it easier to buy one of something.”

It also fits with Covey’s motto for eating. “Food for me is so in the moment that I like to be able to eat what I want to eat, when I want to eat it.”

Although recipes on the blog for asparagus pesto and parmesan risotto sound complicated, Covey said her recipes are simple, describing them at “rustic homespun.”

In the future, Covey hopes to continue spreading her single cooking gospel with a cookbook.

“I want to demystify the fact that gourmet cooking for one is hard or really time consuming. It doesn’t have to be,” she said.

To check out her blog, visit www.gourmetrecipesforone.com.

Download the recipe for Covey's Strawberry Panzanella Salad below.