How to Make a Week’s Worth of Pescatarian Dinners from Whole Foods for Under $30

Dice the onion and garlic into fine pieces, chop the spinach, and squeeze all of the juice out of the lemon. Rinse your rice by placing it in a mesh strainer and running cool water over it until the water stops looking milky and begins to run clear. Drain rice and set aside. Preheat your oven to 450°.

Prep the salmon. Melt your butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Combine the melted butter, garlic, and lemon juice into one large bowl and mix it all together. Microwave another 10 seconds. Place salmon fillets to soak in bowl and let them sit.

While the salmon is soaking, warm the olive oil or butter in a pot over medium heat. Add the onion (and any other veggies) and cook about 4-5 minutes or until everything is soft. Add the rice and spinach to the pot. Stir to coat with the olive oil or butter.

Continue to cook, stirring often, until the tips of the rice turn translucent and it smells toasted. Add the water (or broth if you have it) and salt to the pot and increase the heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil. As soon as the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot.

Cook without lifting the lid for 40 to 45 minutes. Check that the rice is tender and has absorbed all the liquid. If not, cover and cook another few minutes. Let the pot sit off the heat for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Place the soaked salmon fillets into a baking dish. Pour half of the contents of the lemon-butter-garlic mixture over the fillets and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Take the fillets out and pour the remaining lemon-butter-garlic mixture over them. Make sure the juices get all over the salmon. Bake for another 10 minutes.

Remove the salmon fillets from the oven and let cool. Take the lid off the pot of rice and fluff the pilaf with a fork. Serve yourself a nice helping of pilaf and salmon.

Time to use up those leftovers! Take the remainder of the lemon-garlic butter salmon and give it a new spin. If you don’t have any leftovers, you can quickly whip up some salmon from the recipe above. While you’re doing that, prepare your ingredients. Drain the tofu by placing it on a bunch of paper towels and putting a plate and heavy object on top of it. Dice the onion and garlic. Chop the spinach. Use a fork to break up the fish into flaked pieces, removing any bones that you see.

Squeeze as much water as you can out of the tofu by pressing down on the plate, then move the tofu to a bowl. Mash it until there’s no large chunks of tofu. Add in the onion, spinach, garlic, pepper, and salt. Mix everything together until evenly combined. Add the salmon, mashing it up with your fork until you have a tuna fish-like mixture. Shape the mixture into fist-sized cakes.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and add oil when hot. Shape the mixture into patties. If it’s not sticking together, mix an egg into the mixture and try again. If you have bread or panko crumbs, feel free to coat the patties with them. Otherwise, slide the patties onto the hot pan. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until the cakes are nicely browned. Cool before serving.

Rinse your rice by placing it in a mesh strainer and running cool water over it until the water stops looking milky and begins to run clear. Drain rice and place inside pot. Add the water and increase the heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil. As soon as the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Cook without lifting the lid for 40 to 45 minutes. At the end, check that the rice is tender and has absorbed all the liquid. If not, cover and cook another few minutes. Let sit off heat for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Chop the sweet potato into cube-sized chunks. Heat a skillet to medium heat and add the olive oil when hot. Microwave the sweet potato chunks for 10-15 minutes, until tender. Add to pan and sauté for 4-5 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Transfer the potatoes to a different plate and return the skillet to the stove.

Return the skillet to medium heat and add more olive oil. Add the spinach in, stirring around the pan for 5-10 minutes. Mince garlic and add in when the spinach is wilted. Cook for 1 more minute, then remove greens from heat. Add the lemon juice, and butter to taste.

Sweet Potato Fries: Preheat oven to 450°. If desired, peel skin off the sweet potato (I like a little crunch, so I keep it on). Slice sweet potato into thin sticks and spread evenly over a baking pan. Drizzle with salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir the fries around so every side gets seasoning. Bake fries for 12-15 minutes, flipping them once when they’re halfway through baking.

Tofu Steaks: Drain the tofu by placing it on a bunch of paper towels and putting a plate and heavy object on top of it. Mince garlic. Squeeze as much water as you can out of the tofu by pressing down on the plate, then move the tofu to a chopping block. Cut into ½ wide strips. Cut a slit in the top of the tofu and place garlic inside. If desired, soak tofu in soy sauce. Heat a pan over medium heat and add tablespoon of olive oil when hot. Fry tofu steaks for 3-5 minutes on each side until nicely seared. Serve with salt, pepper, and butter to taste.

Rinse and dry the sweet potato. Use a fork to poke holes all around the sweet potato. The trapped steam inside the potato could cause it to explode if you don’t add holes, so don’t forget this step! Microwave your holed sweet potato for 10 minutes, or until cooked through and soft.

Heat a pan on medium heat and add olive oil. Add shrimp to the pan and cook until slightly brown, about 3-5 minutes on each side, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Cut the cooked sweet potato down the middle and mash to make room for shrimp. Add shrimp and season with more salt, pepper, and butter to taste. Top with paprika or teriyaki sauce if desired.

Heat skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil when hot. Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Add butter to skillet. When melted, add shrimp so that they lie evenly.

Cook the shrimp without moving them for 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Flip shrimp and cook for two minutes more. Pour in lemon juice and stir shrimp around for 3-5 more minutes, until liquid has slightly thickened. Serve on top of pasta, if desired.

This recipe is pretty self-explanatory. Take your leftover shrimp scampi from yesterday and make a salad! Use the leftovers of anything else from this week to add to the deliciousness factor and spice it up. Top with the juice of a lemon or your favorite dressing.