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The night before you plan on cooking the beans, rinse the beans under cool running water for a minute or two while you pick out any shriveled or discolored beans. Add the rinsed beans to the crockpot. Pour the water over the beans, cover, and let sit overnight.
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The next morning, stir in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, parmesan rind, and 1 tablespoon of basil. Cover with lid. Set crockpot to low and cook beans for eight hours.
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Once the beans are finished cooking, set the crockpot to warm, and make the polenta.
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Bring the three cups of water and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the water is boiling, add the polenta. Stir continuously until the polenta starts to thicken. Reduce heat to low.
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Stir in the shredded cheese and remove from heat. Remove remaining bits of parmesan rind from beans before serving.
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Serve beans on top of or alongside polenta. Beans are also very good over rice or your favorite noodle. Beans can be frozen in an airtight container for up to a month or stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for a week.