Basil Chicken and Pasta

All I can say is SUCCESS!!! I was a little unsure of how this was going to turn out because it takes very few and very basic ingredients but me and Evan both give it two thumbs up. 
Here is the original recipe: (my further comments at the bottom)

Ingredients:

1 (12 ounce) package rotini pasta 2 tablespoons butter 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1/2 inch cubes 3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 teaspoons dried basil 1 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 Directions:

1.	In a large pot with boiling salted water cook rotini pasta until al dente. Drain.
2.	Meanwhile, in a large skillet melt the butter or margarine. Add the chopped chicken and garlic, saute until lightly brown and juices run clear. Stir in the ground black pepper, dried basil, heavy cream, and grated Parmesan cheese. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.
3.	Toss drained pasta with basil sauce and serve immediately. Ok so to start off with, my newest discovery that is a very useful tidbit of information is... HELPFUL HINT #1: 1 lb of chicken is the equivalent of 2-3 chicken breasts. Of course, this is not exact because the size of chicken can vary but use your best guess.  I used two frozen chicken breasts and it turned out perfect.  Which leads me to HELPFUL HINT #2: When defrosting the chicken, take it out when it is still slightly frozen.  It makes cutting it SO MUCH EASIER!!! Maybe these are things that all ya'll know, however like previously mentioned i'm a newbie cook.  I'm happy to say that the second hint I discovered all by myself :).  When we were grocery shopping last night Evan was in charge of getting the Heavy Whipping Cream.  To him, whipping cream and heavy whipping cream were equivalent.  However, I am pleased to say that i did in fact use regular whipping cream for this recipe and it turned out FABULOUS!! Plus, it just so happens to be more healthy so boom bam baby.  On the healthy note, i also substituted 2 Tablespoons of olive oil instead of butter and it worked out just fine.  I wanted the sauce a little thicker so I doubled the parmesan cheese.  As previously mentioned, this recipe turned out fabulous! It had flavor, but was mild enough that we could each eat a whole plateful.  Definitely something I'll be making in the future.  And to top it all of, it was sooo easy.  The only preparation was the chicken.  Thats my kind of meal! (We did have more noodles than sauce left over, so if I were making for more people I would double the sauce. For us it was perfect.)