In the Configuration ... Images ... you could turn off the image with the switch for it:
Image - Shopping Cart Status
Show product image in the shopping cart?
0= off 1= on
On the products_model, this is not a feature of the shopping_cart ...
However, you can customize the template with your templates and overrides and use a handy dandy, often over looked, function zen_products_lookup ...
PHP Code:
/*
* Return any field from products or products_description table
* Example: zen_products_lookup('3', 'products_date_added');
*/
function zen_products_lookup($product_id, $what_field = 'products_name', $language = '') {
What this function does is return any field from either the products or products_description tables by passing to it the products_id and the field that you want ...
On the shopping_cart for the template file tpl_shopping_cart_default you can use for the products_id:
$product['id']
and then the field name you want for the model is:
products_model
So, copy the tpl_ file to your template and override directory and then customize that for your specific needs ...