Recipe FAIL

I wouldn't call myself a gourmet chef, and I don't really make up recipes off the top of my head... so I generally spend a little time each week perusing my small collection of cookbooks, or cooking websites for recipes that I can use for dinner. My most recent exciting discovery is The Nest website (sequel to "The Knot" for brides-to-be, prequel to "The Bump" for moms-to-be and so on... they seriously have you set up for life) filled with articles and information for newly-weds from decorating to cooking for two or buying a new home. I've had some fun searching through their recipes database and decided to try this one out last night for dinner:

Meatballs and Snowpeas

Unfortunately, it didn't work out as expected. It could have been that I'm recovering from a cold and my sense of smell (therefore, taste) is still a little off... or it could just be the recipe, but DH and I were both a little put off. I didn't even finish mine! His first comment was "Tastes like ketchup...." (and I had left the ketchup out of the recipe). I was really hoping it would be as delectable as it looks in the photo, but it was definitely a recipe FAIL. Perhaps it needs some tweaking? I'd be willing to try again with suggestions.... any takers?