I remember realizing the vinegar could cure so many ills around my house. I wondered why no one had ever told me that. Ever since I realized how awesome vinegar is, I keep at least two huge jugs in the house at all times. I use it for EVERYTHING, even if I’m not quite sure vinegar will work. My kids have grown used to hearing me say, “Let’s try a little vinegar.”

Not that I’m always looking for the next best thing, but I will admit to being completely enamored of cauliflower right now. Why didn’t anyone ever tell me that eating cauliflower raw is so 1990?! If not for Paleo, I’d never have figured out that cauliflower is for more than raw veggie trays.

I’ve made cauliflower rice and fauxtatoes so far. I’ve also tried cauliflower poppers. I’ve enjoyed them all.

Tonight? I decided to go for roasted cauliflower turned into hummus.

You don’t even understand how much hummus I’ve consumed in the past few years. I used it as a replacement to French onion chip dip [I know, I know!] and could eat it with anything from carrots to red peppers to pretzels. I ate it with wild abandon and until I became familiar with the Whole 30, I had no clue that legumes could be not so nice to my innards.

And, because I now double fist heads of cauliflower like I do jugs of vinegar, I had a spare head of cauliflower to try a hummus recipe with tonight.

The result was pure perfection. I thought my Vitamix and I might break up over this, but it finally straightened up when I threatened to return it to QVC for a replacement that wouldn’t give me the business.

What happened was sheer awesomeness.

LOOK AT THAT HUMMUS!!

It didn’t hurt that the cauliflower roasted at 500 degrees in the oven and that it was still piping hot when it came from the Vitamix container. I’ve never eaten hot hummus before, but I will tell you, I could do it all day every day.

I know I’ll be fighting my oldest for this, but I also know now that a head of cauliflower makes puh-lenty of hummus! I will be able to take this to work with me tomorrow. It will be nice to have a snack in my office fridge that is a little more engaging than a raw piece of fruit. Not that I don’t love fruit, but vegetables and I need to deepen our relationship.

Now that I’m on the right eating track, I suppose it’s time to admit that I need to mix in some exercise. It’s painful to recognize that in 2009 when my husband was deployed, I became a runner–for real. People who were inspired by my learning to be a runner have gone on to run marathons, triathlons, and even competed in the Iron Man. Me? Well, I’m sure I couldn’t even run a 5k if someone offered me a million dollars.

Now is my favorite time of year to be running, though. In fact, I discovered during my first stint as a real runner that I run best when it’s 38 degrees outside. I was so crazy about running that I even ran once when it was 23 degrees outside with a wind chill of 19 degrees. I had all kinds of cold weather gear–you wouldn’t even believe. I slipped on ice, chugged through shin deep snow, etc. And now?

I’d like to go back there. I’d like to go from feeling like parts of me that shouldn’t be moving and shaking no longer move and shake when I run. I want to be running down the street again and have neighbors, or even my husband, pass me on the sidewalk and not realize it’s me they have just passed.

I’ve known and not done for long enough. I figure if I can do the Whole 30, I can do just about anything health-wise. I suppose it’s time to dust off my old podcasts for the Couch-to-5k (C25k), blow the dust bunnies off my running shoes and see if we can’t continue the positive trajectory started by the Whole 30.