Recipe and more photo updates

So obviously I have much more time to blog now...as I have 2 more weeks off from school! I wanted to share a few more photos and a little update of the last few weeks for the Lewis'

Having my own kitchen has been great! I have promised myself that I would try a new recipe each day (I know who ever thought I would have this much time on my hands) at least until school starts again. So last night I made Spicy Pork Parmesan Cutlets and Lew gave it two thumbs up so I figured I would post it ;)

Ingredients: 1 lb pork chops (about 4), 2 Tbs. flour, 3/4 tsp. salt, 1/8 tsp black pepper, 2 tsp. olive oil divided, cooking spray, 1 cup vertically sliced onion (about 1 medium), 3 garlic cloves minced, 1 cup tomato and basil pasta sauce, 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper, 3 tbs. chopped fresh basil (or 1 tbs dried), 2 tbs grated parmesan cheese.

Directions: Preheat oven 450 degrees. Place pork chops between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound to 1/4 " thickness with meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Combine flour, 1/2 tsp of salt, and black pepper in shallow dish and dredge pork chops through mixture. Heat 1 tsp oil in large skillet over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes on each side until browned (you may only be able to do 2 pork chops at a time). Remove from pan. Coat same pan with cooking spray. Add onion and remaining 1/4 tsp salt, saute 2 minutes. Add garlic saute 5 minutes. Stir in sauce and red pepper and cook 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in basil. Place pork in jelly role pan coated with cooking spray. Top each with about 1-2 tbs pasta sauce mixture and 1/2 teaspoon of cheese. Bake at 450 degrees for about 5 minutes or until pork is done and cheese is melted.

I served it with whole wheat pasta and salad and it turned out to be very yummy.

(this recipe was taken from cooking light, so it's calorie friendly)

Here are a few pictures of our humble home. It's definitely still a work in progress, but has come a long way! We still have boxes to unpack (as you'll see in some of the pictures) but other than that it's feeling more like a home now without all the clutter of boxes.

We bought all of our bedroom furniture on New Years day and felt confident that we would have no problem putting it together (granted neither of us had really done this before) and it literally took us ALL day! Talk about bonding time.

Our living room: Its not a huge room but just the right size that it doesn't require too much cleaning ;) It fit all of our furniture perfectly....our biggest problem has been figuring out where to store all of our books!

Our kitchen: no problem with storage here! The cabinets are huge and have shelves that slide out. It has been great because I have had no problem finding places for all of our kitchen stuff....we actually have shelves that are empty that I am trying to figure out what I can put on them.

So, we had the pleasure of being in Indiana with Lew's family the weekend after Christmas. It was so much fun to be with his family and they had a great open house for us where we got to meet a lot of their family friends. Here are a few pictures of the table that his Mom set up with wedding photos so people who couldn't make it to our wedding could still see pictures.






Here are a few pictures of Christmas day at the Ellis home:

Great Grandma Kouneski with Gianna on her first Christmas

Sam opening his presents

Isaiah with Aunt Laura and Mommy

The newest Ellis Family on their second Christmas together as a married couple

Uncle Lew happily holding baby Gianna

Isaiah with Dada looking at one of his presents

Grandpa Ellis holding Gianna