For the love of homemade

Today was one of those in and out busy days- appointments, errands, meetings and we didn't get home until about 8 p.m. I did have about an hour of free time this afternoon though, so I decided to make some homemade Parmesan-Rosemary Crackers to go with our quick weeknight meal of Squash and Sage Cream Sauce Pasta with a light salad. The pasta consisted of frozen squash (that we prepped back in September, but store bought would work too) that we heated in olive oil and simmered with garlic, dried sage and cream as we waited for the pasta to boil. Simple, organic, whole foods, but admittedly not our most healthful meal. The crackers, which are my new favorite homemade bread product, took all of half an hour to make, thanks to the Kitchen Aid and my Martha Stewart Baking book (shout out to my family for gifting me these things through the years!). This ties in to the NY Times recipes and article that I was perusing in the doctors office this morning about sustainable food and cooking at home. Most people claim that they don't have time to cook, but I was pleased that the article called people out and mentioned t.v. habits. I was astonished to read that the *average* American watches 35 hours of t.v. a week and that cooking at home is *decreasing*. First off, if I watch zero hours of t.v. a week, who is watching 70 to balance that out?!? Second, I hear so many people say that they don't have time to cook- um, how about you quit that full time job of t.v. watching? I know that many say that it's on in the background, or that they don't really watch that much, but the statistic just sits there. Thirty-five hours. Five hours a day. You could do a lot of cooking in 5 hours a day. I don't want to be preachy or judgmental (even though I kind of am), but just turning off that t.v. for an hour would do a world of good, and you could have cooked the meal that we had tonight. Plus, cooking at home is better for your health, for the environment,and for your pocketbook, not to mention your taste buds. Cracker, anyone?