Black-Eyed Peas, Unbound: A New Free Cookbook for the New Year
New Year’s Day has always been a natural moment for reflection—and for simple, meaningful food. Today, I’m excited to share a new project that grew out of that spirit: Black-Eyed Peas, Unbound: Tradition, Heat, and Global Comfort, a free cookbook built around one humble ingredient and a lot of quiet flexibility.
This book is now available as a free PDF download, created to be cooked from, shared, and adapted—not just admired.
Why Black-Eyed Peas?
Black-eyed peas endure because they work. They store well, cook reliably, and welcome whatever you have on hand. Long before they were tied to New Year’s traditions, they were practical food—meant to feed people consistently and without fuss.
In many Southern kitchens, black-eyed peas mark the turn of the year. But tradition survives best when it can travel. This cookbook treats tradition as a starting point, not a boundary.
How This Cookbook Is Different
Black-Eyed Peas, Unbound is built around a single anchor recipe: plain black-eyed peas cooked with nothing more than liquid, heat, and time. No salt. No aromatics. No seasoning. From there, each recipe shows exactly what to add before cooking and what to add after.
What You’ll Find Inside
- One anchor recipe with six core cooking methods
- Thirty black-eyed pea variations
- Southern roots, global flavors, and plant-forward options
- Clear “add before” and “add after” guidance for every recipe
- Practical notes for leftovers, make-ahead cooking, and pairing
The recipes are grouped by theme—from Southern comfort to bold heat, European staples, Mediterranean influences, island cooking, and everyday pantry adaptations.
A Cookbook Meant to Be Used
This is not a novelty project and not a commercial product. It’s a working cookbook—shared freely under a Creative Commons license. You’re encouraged to download it, cook from it, share it, and adapt it for non-commercial use.
Simple food, carried forward, still matters. And a single pot of peas can go a long way.
How this Cookbook Came to be
Yesterday I put together a simple blog article New Year's Eve-AI Black Eyed Peas Please! It was fun and simple--and enjoyable! And I thought--this is a whole cookbook. So here it is, one day later--recipes and images generated by AI with human supervision.
This is how we do it at Creative Cooking with AI.
Download the Cookbook
Black-Eyed Peas, Unbound: Tradition, Heat, and Global Comfort is available now as a free PDF download.
Download link available on the Cookbooks page.
More cookbooks are already in development, and this page will continue to grow throughout the year.
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