I got this idea from the way the best sellers works when it is in the main section not in a side menu.
The original template for upselling lists the product with the product ID#. We do not use that number and in most cases this means nothing to the customer. So I decided to take out the ID# and replace it with a small thumbnail. Here is an example:
http://www.kennedyhardware.com/menu.JPG
So here is the changes to the /mycart/skin1/modules/Upselling_Products/related_products.tpl
Code:
{* $Id: related_products.tpl,v 1.15 2005/12/07 14:07:32 max Exp $ *}
{if $product_links ne ""}
{capture name=dialog}
<table cellspacing="5">
{section name=cat_num loop=$product_links}
<tr class="ItemsList">
<td width="1%">{include file="product_thumbnail.tpl" productid=$product_links[cat_num].productid image_x=25 product=$product_links[cat_num].productid}</td>
<td width="99%"><a href="product.php?productid={ $product_links[cat_num].productid }"{if $config.Upselling_Products.upselling_new_window eq 'Y'} target="_blank"{/if} class="ItemsList">{$product_links[cat_num].product}</a></td>
</tr>
{/section}
</table>
{/capture}
{include file="dialog.tpl" title=$lng.lbl_related_products content=$smarty.capture.dialog extra='width="100%"'}
{/if}
I am trying to do the same for recommends.tpl but for some reason I cannot get it to work. If someone want to help out I can post the template I have so far.