If, like me, you're feeling a little slow after four days of heavenly (but not exactly light) food, try one of these healthy dishes. Every one of them is easy to make on a weeknight, has minimal ingredients, and won't leave you feeling like you need to loosen your belt.

1. Sea Scallops with Orange and Rosemary
Low-calorie scallops and high-vitamin OJ combine in this fancier-than-your-average-Tuesday-night dish.

2. Lisa Oz's Lentils with Chia Seeds Recipe
Aromatics and herbs transform vegetables from simple to spectacular.

3. Mango Chicken Salad
This simple salad lets the fresh, sweet flavor of mangoes shine through.

4. Low-Fat Spaghetti Carbonara Pasta with Peas
Thanks to the low-fat milk in this recipe, you won't come away from the table feeling like you overdid it.

5. Moroccan Chicken Over Couscous
This is one of those back-pocket recipes you can take in any direction: Our instructions explain how to make it Italian, Indian or Chinese.

6. Miso Salmon with Cucumber Salad
Broiling salmon in miso, mirin and soy sauce keeps it moist and imparts salty-sweet flavor.

7. Double-Soy Ginger Tofu
Humble bean curd is actually incredibly delicious. With rice and a salad, or some nice green vegetable, this makes a more-than-satisfying dinner.

8. Curry Carrot Ginger Soup
This tangy, Asian-inspired take on traditional carrot soup includes lemongrass, coconut milk and ginger.

Image Credit: Aaron Gronstal

I admit it: I'm a science-nerd-wannabe. I'm that soft-science fan who listens to Science Friday on NPR or reads Oliver Sachs articles and gets all excited and then immediately forgets whatever it is I was supposed to learn, because my spongey brain didn't really completely get it. So I'm always happy when interesting yet complex science lessons are presented in palatable forms. Like comics.

That's right. For here is a little present for anyone who ever stuck a comic book inside a science textbook and now regrets missing the lesson: astrobiology graphic novels, brought to you by NASA.  Issue #2 of Astrobiology has just been released (you can download the PDF or get the mobile app), and its focus is the history of our exploration of Mars.

It looks pretty, is full of slick illustrations, and contains a lot of good information, so that even I can now say things in casual conversations that will make me seem smart, such as, "Well, you know it was the images returned from NASA’s Mariner 4 mission in 1965 that finally put to rest speculations about the famous 'irrigation canals' on Mars so popular in the 1800s," and, "Of course, NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, launching in late 2011 will bring us closer to determining if there was ever life on Mars," at which point I can perhaps sing a bit of David Bowie's "Life on Mars." Or maybe not that last part. I don't know, I'm feeling awfully inspired.

Download the graphic novel here, and keep checking the Astrobiology blog for Issue #3.

More scientific fun:
Want to be an astronaut?
Meet 3 science rock stars.
Brilliant teens' science fair projects.

Keep the traditions you love and scrap the ones you don't—and more solutions to holiday stress.

Surprisingly powerful, only a little scary: Photographs of modern-day Annie Oakleys.

A (beautiful) way to understand your own style: this illustrator draws her outfit, every day.

Be sure to get the number one super hot educational toy this season! It's...wooden blocks. Well, that was easy. Now as to the reason why....

The Life-Lifter: Homeless kids become photo-journalists, and learn to picture their dreams.

Photo: HECTOR GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images

When you're 14, life is lived in superlatives. "If this zit is still on my forehead tomorrow, I will die." "If you let me wear this mini-skirt I will finally have a life worth living." Or, you know: "I'll be the happiest girl in the world if I get a place at the London [Paralympic] games."

So says Jessica Rogers, the 18 inch tall, 14-year-old swimmer who hopes to take home the 2012 Paralympic gold. And I for one believe her. This girl is amazing. First of all, will you look at her arm muscles? She is buff.  Jessica was born with Caudal Regression Syndrome, which means she has no lower spine and extremely small legs. Jessica also engages in a grueling training schedule, waking up at 3:30 every morning before school to prepare for the Paralympics, according to the Daily Mail. As she told the Mail, "When I'm swimming, I feel free."

Her mother, who adopted her when she was a baby, calls Jessica, "a typical teenager," and told the Mail that she's "incredibly determined. But she sees herself as the same as everyone else." And she is. Except  that she's a much, much better swimmer. And she doesn't seem to spend any time feeling sorry for herself:  "I don't think I'm special—I was born like this and just get on with life. Everyone is different in their own way." We have to disagree: Jessica seems pretty special to us.

Learn more about Jessica's charity for other kids born with Caudal Regression Syndrome and see an amazing video of her swimming, at the Huffington Post.
 

 

Every Monday, we're rounding up the things, small and big, that make us stop and think. Today, we're inspired by...

"There are no limits. There are absolutely no limits and I started to dream big again.”
-The Biggest Loser winner Ali Vincent on losing over half her body weight.

"It's great that you get to go out and actually save someone’s life, hopefully, or at least make a difference to someone, you know. When you know that they’re in trouble, you do everything you can to get there."
-Prince William, who helped to rescue two stranded sailors this weekend, on working with the Royal Air Force's Search and Rescue Force.

"It's not like it's hard to be decent and respectful and well behaved."
-Sarah Jessica Parker, on trying to not to be a diva, in Marie Claire. .

 

We hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving with plenty to be grateful for! We'll see you back here on Monday.

Americans are cutting back a lot these days but they're not cutting back on donations to charity.

For the travel-weary: The best quotes to keep you going (Via USA Today)

Even adorable penguin chicks can blog these days.

A special group reunites soldiers with unlikely friends from the front lines.

A breathtaking performance by an aerialist who makes circus performers look like wimps.

How to save time and be more creative. Step one: stop beating yourself up for not being productive in the past.

Music that will make the whole family happy. (Yes, the Muppets are involved.)

Fight holiday stress with pandas, soccer, and Mr. T.

The Life-Lifter: An animal shelter is saved with the help of $26 donations... and a 26-toed cat.

Photo: Thinkstock

The other day I was walking down the street with a friend, pushing my hulking double stroller laden with groceries, diaper bag, extra sweaters, snacks, a random single flip-flop, a trio of chiming plush birds, and I think the two kids were in there somewhere too. I strained to push the heavy contraption up the sloping street, getting out of breath and feeling very sorry for myself. Everything just seemed far too difficult—life with small children, life in general. The thought of making dinner, the thought of work the next day, the thought of having to take another single step. I was about to say something to my friend about, you know, the pointlessness of existence, when she looked at my stroller and said, "You know your tires are all flat, right?"

My what were what? I looked. "Oh. Ohhhhh." She directed me to a bike shop and proceeded to fill up the stroller tires. "Free air," she said, as if imparting some sort of runic wisdom. We continued on, and suddenly the whole world seemed lighter, easier, friendlier. I could have sworn the sun came out from behind the clouds. The stroller wasn't such a burden! It skimmed across the sidewalk like a water skipper on the surface of an alpine pond. I didn't quite start singing something from "The Sound of Music," but I could have, that's how completely my worldview had shifted.

It occurs to me that this is something of a metaphor for life. It's not even that we make things more difficult than they need to be, but that we don't question whether or not they need to be difficult.

We assume that if something is hard we just have to deal.  So I've been applying the flat tire test to everything that comes my way that seems difficult, and, surprise surprise, it's helping. Thanksgiving loomed, filling me with dread. Why? I usually love Thanksgiving! When I thought about it, I realized I just felt overwhelmed by the idea of hosting and all that went with it, but worried that if I begged off our friends would think I was lazy and lame. And you know what? I asked them if they would mind hosting, they agreed with alacrity, and sent out an email with a suggested menu. Free air!  Once I pinpointed the problem and simplified our plans for fun, my energy returned. Free air!

As the holiday season envelops us with its many demands, I think of what a wise woman—ok, my mother—likes to say: Just because something's good doesn't mean it doesn't cause anxiety. What's subtly, almost invisibly, keeping your energy down, your spirits low? Can you apply some "free air," so to speak, and lighten your own load?

Read More:
When your biggest roadblock is...you.
Is it you or your life that's the problem?