Shrimp Linguine with Spinach Sauce

I knew I wanted to make shrimp pasta for dinner on Friday, so I was off to look for a new sauce to try. I found a penne with spinach sauce recipe from Giada, and modified the whole thing a bit to fit my needs. My recipe is below, but I linked her original. I added shrimp, mushrooms, and tomatoes to the pasta to make a full meal. This sauce has a lot of garlic in it, and is stays raw - so if you don't like the taste of raw garlic, you will not like this. I thought it was really good though! (Please excuse the picture. Its spinach sauce! I just doesn't look pretty!)Shrimp Linguine with Spinach Sauce
serves 6 as written, I made half

1 lb. linguine, I used whole wheat
~40 medium sized sprimp, cooked with tails removed
~2 c. sliced mushrooms, I used portabella
~1.5 c. chopped tomatoes, I used roma
2 Tbsp. chopped basil

Sauce:
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 oz. fresh baby spinach leaves
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
~3 Tbsp. olive oil

DIRECTIONS:
1. Cook the linguine according to package directions.
2. Saute the mushrooms in a small drizzle of olive oil for ~5 min, and tomatoes and shrimp for the last minute to heat through.
3. In a food processor, chop the garlic cloves. Add the cream cheese, salt, pepper, spinach, and parmesan cheese and process for 20 seconds. Stream in 2-4 Tbsp. olive oil until you are happy with the consistency. You want it thick, but not like a paste. You could also use some of the starchy pasta water to thin it out if you want a smoother texture but don't want to add too much extra fat. (I used 2 Tbsp EVOO and about 2 Tbsp of the pasta water.)
4. Drain the linguine, and toss with the mushrooms, shrimp and tomatoes. Top with the sauce and toss to distribute throughout the dish. Sprinkle basil on top and enjoy!
REVIEW:
We liked this a lot, but it is a raw sauce so the spinach and garlic tastes are STRONG. It didn't help that I made too much sauce for how much pasta I made (I didn't cut the sauce part in half) - I definitely could have saved some of it for another time. Another successful Lenten meal! You could use chicken instead though, and that would be good as well.