Hello, and welcome to our blog "Heart in the Middle":) 
My name is Shona and I live in Devon, UK with my soon-to-be 8 year old daughter Jana (pronounced Yana). We are both adventurers who share a passion for life, food, children, fun and nature. We both love desserts:)
The name 'Heart in the middle' comes from a saying I have that I always make my food with a heart in the middle - meaning with passion, creativity and enthusiasm; and a desire to share and nourish others.
As a mother I have felt a wish to create healthy wholesome foods for Jana that are full of nourishment. They also need to be fun and delicious:) To maximise nutrition and the ability to share our creations with as many people as possible all our recipes have come to be wheat, sugar and dairy free. We do use some nuts but these can often be substituted if necessary. Most of our recipies require no cooking which is great for Jana to join in with, and fun to eat as we go along!
Most of the time our desserts are simply made with fresh fruits, as part of our 5+a-day. One night a week we love to make a more elaborate dessert for our DVD night which we make in a big dish and share with 2 spoons:)
Jana's love of anything frozen has led me to experiment with various forms of frozen desserts, including gelato, sorbets, and pies. I also love smoothies, and creating no-cook cakes and sweets.
During my experimentation I have created as many, if not more, disasters than successes! But, this is all part of the fun and adventure! Bless her, Jana is always a willing taster, and very honest with her comments! Jana comes up with some fantastic recipes herself and she is always inspiring me.
I believe sweetness is important in our lives - it is a very nourishing flavour in many different ways. Foodwise I feel the most nourishing sweetness comes from whole fresh fruits and vegetables. There are also many low GI and low GL natural sweetners available now, such as raw honey, agave nectar (from the same cactus plant that tequila is made from) and yacon syrup (from the yacon fruit). These sweetners are most tasty and nutritious when used in as unheat-treated and minimally processed a form possible.
I also believe another fantastic source of sweetness in our lives is kindness - to ourselves, each other and our world. It costs nothing, is fun to practice and has benefits for both giver and receiver:)
Whatever we share we make bigger in the world. We will love to use this space to share the sweetness in our lives, through sharing recipes, ideas and happenings:)
Please feel welcome to join us - we'll love to hear from you too!
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