In The Kitchen With Alexa

This post is sponsored by Amazon Devices & Services.

If your kitchen has become a lot busier like ours has over the last few years I want to show you some of the ways I use Amazon Alexa to make life a little easier with some of the great features that will help you get your kitchen working for you!

The last couple of years my cooking at home has changed completely. When I first started blogging about food it was a real hobby for me, something I did purely for enjoyment as a break from my day job at the time. I used to spend hours obsessed with the early food blogs like Pioneer Woman and Smitten Kitchen. After the blog took off in 2006 and catapulted me into the world of books and TV it quickly became my full-time gig meaning I had less time to just cook what I wanted when I wanted. There were recipes to test, dishes to photograph and books to write.

Then in December of 2017 when Noah was born it all changed again with the need for quick home cooked meals being of all the more importance. I like to think I’ve found more of a balance now; our mid-week dinners are all about speed, comfort, nutrition and flavour whereas weekends I like to spend time over slow roasts in the oven and maybe some Saturday baking so there’s something nice to eat if friends stop by.

One thing I do know, like a lot in our life since having kids, we need routines to stick too and what I love most about having Alexa and my Echo Show in the kitchen with me is just how easy it is to keep on top of things. We do our best to stick to meal plans Monday to Friday, just 5 key meals and that way I know I have the ingredients for something to throw together in a flash when dinner rolls around.

There are plenty of great features you can use with Alexa and our Echo Show. In the kitchen I use it all the time for setting cooking timers. This function is great because you can have multiple timers on the go at once, set by just saying the command and they are displayed while you potter away in the kitchen (Example: One timer with chicken in the oven, another for rice cooking on the stove and one for steaming vegetables). Great for when you have your hands full!

I also love the ability to keep a rolling shopping list so that as soon as I run out of a spice or bottle of oil I add it to the list meaning it doesn’t get forgotten. You can also easily shop online and order ingredients using just your voice command. I am obsessed with the big buckets of Maldon Sea Salt you can buy and I love that you can order it so simply by saying, “Alexa, order Maldon Sea Salt”.

Since we moved to Los Angeles cooking conversions are also a big thing and use Alexa in the kitchen for quick conversions. Quickly having the ability to convert Farenheit to Celcius or Cups to Grams speeds up my cooking no end and is one less stumbling block to getting through a recipe. Another function Sofie likes to use is the recipe inspiration skill where you can ask Alexa for pasta recipe ideas and it will throw up lots of great ideas and then walk you through step by step how to cook them- great for newbies in the kitchen!

But aside from all the cooking specific skills and features Alexa has my favourite function in the kitchen and how you can use it to create Routines. Just say, “Alexa make it cosy” to set the mood for your evening meal. Things like starting a romantic playlist, turning down the lights, reminding you to light some candles and turn off the wifi via Eero wifi system allows you to settle in and enjoy the process of getting dinner ready!

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