Ode to the Food Processor

So, somehow I've never owned a food processor before. I know, I know, how can you be domestic at all and not have a food processor, right? Well, I did things old school. I mashed. I grated. But apparently my family got tired of seeing me spend an insanely long time each summer grating zucchini for zucchini bread, so my mom had the keen sense to purchase a food processor for me for Christmas. I hadn't used it until today (shame on me). However, after spending many a hot summer day mashing strawberries for jam, this was amazing.
I made apricot/peach jam first today. Why the mix? Because apricots are small. Really small. And supposedly you have to peel them, and cut them, and mash them, and then cook them. I did a few of those things, but after peeling two plus a finger, I figured people could just deal with it. I was right, you can't tell. But anyway, after chopping all the apricots, I realized apricot pits must weigh a ton, because I was short on fruit. So instead of picking more (it's hot in Missouri, come on), or buying apricots, I bought peaches. Because (follow me here) peaches taste similar to apricots, only they're way bigger. So, I have to do less work. Ta-da!
I've never canned jam where you don't use pectin, and I tried very hard to follow the instructions to cook it enough to get to a "jelly" consistency. However, it still looks a little runny. Eh, for my first try, it tastes good, that's what matters, right?
I also canned strawberry jam using the food processor. I've done strawberry jam for years, and this was the first time I didn't have to mush up all the berries. It isn't nearly as chunky, which is something I always equated with homemade, but it tastes great and looks very pretty and uniform. Unfortunately, my never-ending battle with pectin and jam did not stop this season. I'm hoping my strawberry jam sets up a bit more. It has, quite a bit, but without the big chunks, it's going to be more runny than I'd like. We shall see. Like I said, I'm not awesome at any of this, but I'm okay at it. All my jars sealed (a record for me, considering I've got over 20 jars of canned goodness in there). I didn't get any jam in my hair. The kitchen doesn't look like a battle zone. Small victories, people.

First Post!

So I'm trying out the life of the self-absorbed. I am blogging.
I call myself a Domestique Goddess (because my father always says I'm just "so domestique" in all my doings). What do I consider Domestique Goddess doings? Well, I'm into a lot of different things, none of which I excel at (warning) but a lot of things I like to attempt.
For instance. I quilt, just taught myself to crochet, make a mean pair of pajama pants, and do other little sewing projects. Oh, I hem dresses sometimes. I also like to garden. My garden this year has corn, sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers (green and jalapeno), green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and some melons. My dear husband just helped me weed the thing this evening. Much overdo.
Of the produce I procure, I can, freeze, grill, and stare at it. :) Today I canned strawberry jam and apricot/peach jam. All of which I will expand on at some point. This is just an introductory post.

So... I do all these things. I'm 22 weeks pregnant, I have three dogs (Wally, Muriel, and Mogwai), and I live with my lovely husband in our lovely house in the middle of Missouri. I teach (just finished summer school today, ugh) so I get a little off-time now to work on this self-absorption project, aka blog. Hope you can read it, hope you can enjoy it, it's just a little of what I do!