Sausage and Mushroom Risotto

I have been searching for a good sausage recipe for a long time now, and this one finally hits the spot.  We loved it!  I did make quite a few changes from the original recipe--mainly because a small bag of risotto was $8.00 at the grocery store, and I thought it would work with rice.  Also, there was a lot of wine involved, which I substituted for chicken broth.  So, I'm posting my version of the recipe, but if you want the original, here it is.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb sausage
• 1 package of sliced mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano (I used dried)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (I used dried)
• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups rice
• Parmesan cheese (Kyle and I liked it better without cheese)

Directions:  

• In a large sauce pan, melt butter on medium-high heat.  Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 mins.  Add the rice and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until rice is soft (for me it was about 20 mins).  
• Brown the sausage on medium-high heat in a large skillet.  Add the mushrooms, thyme and oregano and cook until mushrooms are tender.  Stir into the rice sauce pan, once rice is done  Season with salt and pepper.  Transfer to serving bowl.  Sprinkle with cheese.  

(We halved this recipe, and it still made a lot).

recipe found at simplyrecipes.com