Black Bean Chili With Smoked Sausage

"I made this recipe exactly per the directions and quantities noted (I used smoked sausage instead of the kielbasa). The final product was very unappealing looking (grayish brown with strings of sliced onion, lumpy little black beans and chunks of sliced sausage) but tasted OK; I wasn't thrilled with the onion base giving the main flavor to the dish, so I made some changes. First, I quadrupled the garlic, sliced it, and browned it in olive oil (about 1/4 cup). I chopped the sausage instead of slicing it and added it and the sliced onion to the garlic and olive oil and sauteed them together, browning the sausage and carmelizing the onions (on medium high heat). I added 1 Tbsp of red pepper flakes. I did not use the celery at all. I did all of this while the beans were prepping (I used the dried beans instead of canned but you could go either way). After the beans were prepped and the onion/garlic/sausage/red pepper browned, I went back to the recipe, placing all ingredients in the slow cooker. I did omit the lemon juice and added quite a bit more wine (called for at the end of the prep). The color was better after the slow cooker worked its magic but I decided the chili still didn't look very appetizing. I pureed the entire batch and it turned out to be a beautiful and appetizing reddish brown color - it looked more like chili. With a nice dollop of sour cream in the middle of a serving, it was a smashing success. The red pepper added some kick, carmelizing added some color, and the pureed texture was a sophisticated step up of this southern dish."