I think you (and your mom) have done a great job building a site with quality content. From the headline, I was afraid it was going to be a made-for-AdSense type of site, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

Also, I can't tell you how much I love the design. I'm far from the target audience, but even I think it's great. Simple, colorful, memorable.

Regarding the redesign - I think you made great choices there too. The old sidebar was definitely cluttered and not as useful. I did like the personal touch in the "letter" from your Mom, but I can see why you removed it. The only thing I might suggest adding is some sort of "social proof" - the old sidebar had the Facebook widget showing 3,000 fans which was good. A FeedBurner widget is probably out of place, but even a blurb about the 200,000+ pins on Pinterest would be an excellent way to demonstrate the quality of the site.

The only other thing I might suggest changing is the date-based part of the archives. A simple list of every post title would probably be more interesting and get more clicks. I don't have any data to back it up, but personally I never look through date-based archives (but I'll always skim a list of titles on a blog's archives). You could also include a short curated list of the "best" or most popular recipes (like what's already on the homepage sidebar, but longer or a text-based list).

EDIT: Just noticed the permalinks - you should really clean those up. Maybe teach your mom how to customize the post slug?

Current URL: http://www.theyummylife.com/blog/2012/03/293/Overnight%2C+No...!

The /blog/ and date parts also feel bloated and entirely unnecessary. I don't usually like blogs that omit the date in the permalink, but recipes in particular are the perfect "evergreen" content that wouldn't need it. Heck, you could probably even kill the post ID.

Suggested improved URL: http://www.theyummylife.com/overnight-no-cook-refrigerator-o...

I think it's as simple as /%post%/ on WordPress's permalinks options page.

(If you're worried about breaking existing links on Pinterest, there are many WordPress plugins that help you redirect the old URLs.)

I don't even know/care about the SEO of it, I just think shorter, cleaner URLs would help with remembering, bookmarking, and sharing links.

EDIT2: Just checked the source and realized it's not WordPress. What CMS is the site running? Movable Type?