What's been cooking

Time for another installment of what's been cooking in the Murray household.  (ps...I am on the lookout for a point and shoot camera for Christmas so hopefully one day the pictures will look good)

Broiled Tilapia Oreganata.  

This is a super quick recipe that uses stuff we almost always have in our pantry.  Sorry for all the parmesan cheese.  When I took the fish out it smelled strange so I was hesitant that it wasn't going to be good and sprinkled cheese all over it. It tasted great (sans cheese) and we later found out the weird smell was from our oven...oh well :)

Baked Chicken with Dijon and Lime. 

 A Paula Deen inspired recipe which the amazing woman at Skinny Taste lightened up.  

 Chicken Milanese with Arugula and Tomatoes.  

Yum Yum Yum Yum Yum (that's all)

 Asian Glazed Drumsticks  

Steven loved these and they were great as leftovers a few days later.  

Oven Fried Drumsticks.  

Amazing recipe if you like fried chicken but don't want it to actually be fried. The batter is actually crushed up bran flakes with seasoning! We had my brother over and he loved them as well.  (Picture from Skinny Taste)

Design

Ok I am no expert at design, but as I mentioned a few posts ago, I have been keeping tabs on a few blogs in order to get ideas.  I came across a fantastic picture of a living room re-do and wanted to share!

It has many of my "check-off list" items for how I feel a room should function.  The color scheme is good in any season, it is timeless, at least one piece of striped furniture (I really want a striped couch...no idea why), bookcases for my love of books, warm and inviting.  Now this room looks a bit formal in these pictures but it still looks like people live here.  Nothing drives me more crazy than a room that, despite being beautiful with all its gorgeous furniture, paintings, and priceless treasures, is too "pretty" to actually use.  This room looks very functional and seems to say "welcome, come sit down and relax/talk for hours in my comfy furniture"...wow, I've obviously been looking at too many photos of rooms now that they are talking to me :)

 Love the splash of green next to the fireplace in the pillow and pots

vintage pepsi box is fun!  probably a flea market find for minimal $.  love when cheap finds can bring personality to a room. 

(all images found here)

What's been cooking

Ok I've decided on a new post (that I will hopefully repeat as necessary) where I will share my most recent cooking endeavors and provide recipes when I can.

So...

Lasagna Style Baked-Ziti from Real Simple except I used meat instead of spinach.  

Baked Chicken Chilies Rellenos from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book (BHG).  Steven and I both agreed this was the best thing I have ever made! (and it's low fat!)

Fish Tacos complete with mango salsa (BHG).  See this post to read about my previous attempt at fish tacos.

Caesar Salmon Pizza (BHG)...if I made this again I would make it as an appetizer instead of as the main course.  I forgot how "fishy" smoked Salmon tastes.  It was good though!

Three Bean Turkey Chili from Skinny Taste.  Delicious, healthy and easy recipe! 

Chicken Quesadillas with Mango Salsa from Skinny Taste.  Once again healthy and the mango salsa makes it sweet.  It was a nice change.  

Picture from Skinny Taste (did the quality give it away?)

Blogs Change Lives

I know what you are probably thinking..."wow Katie, what a self-serving title for a post," but I'm not actually talking about my own blog, although I'm sure it does bring a smile to some of your faces because there are a few of you who get mad if I don't post often...

Thanks to Google Reader I am now an advanced blog reader.  I simply "subscribe" to different blogs and all I have to do is sign in to google reader and it shows me which blogs have been updated as well as the post, talk about convenient!

I've started looking at a lot of different design blogs, DIY blogs, and funny blogs (aka Catalog Living where they take ridiculous pictures from Catalogs and give them dialogue...trust me it's hilarious!).  Anywho I'm doing this mostly because I think I am starting to discover my design style but I want to be sure before Steven and I decide to buy furniture in a few years (yes, I realize this might be a bit over the top, but I am anything but spontaneous so I must plan).  Also I'm learning all kinds of tricks for refurbishing old furniture which hopefully means when it comes time to replace the IKEA college furniture I'll be able to do so in a somewhat green/recycled way :)

Decorating.  There are tons of moms who have blogs (that they get paid to do...how jealous am I?)  and they are beyond crafty (which I am not) but they have step by step tutorials on how to create cost effective decorations for your home!  They also all have a love for pottery barn but not the prices so they will simply look at a catalog picture and figure out how to create it themselves, pure genius!  I'm planning to make this $5 wreath at some point this fall (A Martha Stewart Knock Off).

Next, Food!  Ok I have no idea how weight watchers works but there is a blog (Skinny Taste) where this woman puts tons of recipes online that come complete with weight watchers points.  So what do I do?  Simply look for meals that have lower points than others which hopefully means they are healthier.  Seems reasonable right?  I have some Turkey Chili in the crock-pot right now (3.125 points...again have no idea what that actually means) so I'll have to let you know how it goes.

Lastly, inspiring families.  Steven and I are pretty much in sync with many of our decisions, something that comes from a healthy habit of good communication; but we are starting to think of what type of family we want to be (not that we want kids any time soon...sorry moms!).  We are starting to sort out our "grown-up" priorities and I've found that there are some great blogs out there to get ideas from.  One that I came across last week is Young House Love.  They are a young couple, live in a fixer-upper, recycle, buy organic, grow their own produce when they can, and have a 4 month old with cloth diapers. I'm not saying I want to be exactly like them have found several similarities with values Steven and I have: not being the American-consumer family, budgeting, helping the environment, working on house projects ourselves instead of paying for labor (within our skills), focusing on what's important and not what is "trendy" etc.  I would really suggest perusing through that blog for great ideas on how to save money, DIY projects, and how to live simply!

The only downside to all of this?  It keeps me from my ever growing pile of homework...

oops

Sorry for the delay my faithful followers.  Life has been crazy now that school is in full blast...so while I try to find my bearings I will leave you with a few of my favorite FRIENDS clips :)

Rainy mornings

Started off this morning getting my butt kicked in bear cycle with Aurelia.
Quick meeting at  Truett Seminary
Impromptu Common Grounds outing with Morgan where we sat and talked about life whilst drinking soyboy caballeros with moca java blend

All in all one of the best mornings I've had all week.

Also since Aurelia and Morgan are my top blog commenters I felt I should honor them by mentioning them in my post :)  Thanks for a great start to my day friends!

Body, Mind and Soul

Watch out world.  Steven and I are on our way to being the newest power couple on the block...aka we will soon be replacing Bragelina and I'm sure get lots of offers for our own reality tv show.  :) Having one year of marriage under our belt we decided to examine our relationship and see what we could improve.  We came up with two areas and hit the ground running with a new semester of school!  This week has been filled with strengthening our body, mind and soul.

#1 Body:  Steven and I both decided that we need a little more consistent exercise in our lives.  I feel like I should tell you my philosophy on exercise here for clarity.  I am completely against weighing myself because I never want to be unsatisfied with my body if I don't fit within a certain number range on the scale.  To be honest I really don't know how much I weigh and I am completely ok with that. But I have noticed that when I exercise I have more energy (which is a must in grad school) and my pants fit a little better (which is a must when you are on a budget and can't go out and buy more pants. ha!)  So this past week we started working out every day at the SLC at Baylor.  I'm also attending my very first spin class tomorrow with my friend Aurelia!  I am scared out of my mind, but so excited!  It has been so nice to step away from the books for an hour every day and go lift weights/do cardio.  Hopefully we will keep this up throughout the semester!

#2 Mind:  I'm in grad-school...need I elaborate more?  To be honest this wasn't one of the areas of marriage Steven and I decided to work on for the time being, but I needed to add it in order to have the relevant title for this post :)

#3 Soul:  There is always room for improvement in spirituality, so Steven and I decided to look at what specifically we could work on as a couple.  We both realized we are really good at talking about the theology of our faith.  Between my seminary/social work classes and Steven's love to talk about faith and politics we have conversations around these topics pretty much every day.  Something we both struggle with though is the devotional side of faith.  I attribute this to our almost identical Myers-Briggs types: INTJ (Me), ENTJ (Steven) which highlight our amazing ability to analyze things based on facts but our struggle to be more in-tune emotionally with our faith.  We decided to start doing a devotional every night before we watch our Friends episode...um...I mean go to bed :).  We are using "A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants" as our liturgy for these devotions.  I would recommend this book for anybody (couple or individual) who struggles in their devotional life.  The best thing about this tool is that it does all the structuring for you.  It follows the church calendar and for each week provides you with a liturgy full of prayers, scripture verses, reflective readings and even a hymn.  It really has made the experience of leading a devotional life together very enjoyable for Steven and me.