Something to think about + Best salad EVER

Okay, so I'm a pretty neutral fan of salads. There have been very few times in my life when I've actually WANTED a salad and my craving is usually preceded by a lot of fast food meals. But last week I saw a picture of a salad on Pinterest that I just HAD to try.

In classic Jessica style (yes, I just did the third person thing, I'm sorry, I hate that), I started reading the directions about halfway into the cooking process, but it still turned out great. That being said, I have the "adapted" recipe for you today.

Curry Quinoa Salad with Chicken

(recipe adapted from here)
Yields: 3-4
Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 2 tsp. curry powder
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/4 c. uncooked quinoa
• 1 c. water
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 diced peeled ripe mango 
• I can't cut a mango to save my life so I used 2 of the little cups of fruit and just drained out all of the liquid first
• 1 lb. chicken 
• I used Tyson's frozen grilled chicken strips and put them in the crockpot for 4 hours with a little bit of curry powder. About half the bag was the perfect amount
• 2-4 c. baby spinach (or whatever lettuce you want to use)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add curry powder and garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add quinoa and 1 cup water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 16 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat; stir in salt. Cool completely. While doing this, pull chicken out of the oven or crockpot and let it cool as well.
2. Add mango and chicken to cooled quinoa; toss gently.
3. Combine cucumber, mint, and yogurt in a small bowl; stir well. Divide spinach evenly among plates, and top each serving with about 3/4 cup quinoa mixture. I added a little bit of feta cheese and paired with a light raspberry vinaigrette.

Now, for a little something to think about...

I heard a sermon recently (we listened to a lot of sermon podcasts while we were traveling so I don't remember which one this was), and the pastor was talking about the church in Corinth and why Paul was writing to them (you know, I think this may have been a Brook Hills sermon).

One of the main reasons why Paul wrote to the church in Corinth was because Corinthian culture was invading the church rather than the church invading Corinthian culture. This sermon called us as the church in the United States to examine this: Are we, the church in America, invading American culture, or is American culture overcoming out lives and the church itself?

Over the last few days, I've been really thinking a lot about that and how it applies to my life.

In what ways does my life look like American culture?

When people see me, do they see the light of Christ or do they see the world?

If a stranger met me and talked to me for 15 minutes, would they know that I'm a believer? 

In the [many] areas of my life that look just like regular American culture, what can I do to change that?

I know this is kind of a weighty topic, but I think it's necessary. This is in no way a political standpoint, but rather a biblical one.

Let us, as God's church, examine our hearts and our lives. Let's pray for one another that we can come together as God's church in the United States and invade the culture that we're surrounded by, and in many ways immersed in.

Sermon podcast here (yay I found it).