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first of all, there are virtually an infinate number of theories as the best way to work out. some are better at producing muscle mass, some are better at producing endurance, and some are better at helping to lose weight.
since your main goal is to trim down and develop toned muscles, i'd say that doing lots of cardio is the best route to take. and when you do lift weights, do less weight and more reps.
i'm not sure what the actual cardio formula is, but i want to say that it's to raise your heart rate to 80% of your max for 15-20 minutes. this is what i follow at least and it's definately shown results. it sounds like you got a pretty decent workout from the elliptical... just keep increasing the duration and/or intensity at your own pace.
personally, i do cardio everyday before actually lifting. three days a week i do heavier cardio (following the formula i mentioned above), and two days a week i do a lighter cardio workout to just warm up the muscles. this helps get your blood flowing to the muscles and should produce faster results.
also, i only focus on one muscle group per day. mondays i focus on chest, tuesdays are back, wednesdays are legs, thursdays are shoulders, and fridays are arms and abs. if you work out each group really well, you really don't need to work on them more than once a week.
as for the time in between sets, that's basically a personal preference, but anywhere from 1-2 minutes is typical.
since you aren't trying to bulk up, you don't need to increase your protein intake that much, although it couldn't hurt. just follow a balanced diet and cut out unnecessary fatty items like chips and pop and sweets as much as you can stand... just doing that will make a huge difference.
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