Ultra soft and tender banana muffins are made with roasted banana and topped with crunchy cinnamon streusel. Healthy, vegan and gluten-free.

Husband: Are you blogging? Me: Kinda…I was just staring at the screen….I don’t have anything to say…. Husband: That’s a first! (goes to post about it on facebook). Rude.

Okay, that’s a lie. I have a lot to say, but only on one subject. It’s peak training week, and I only want to talk about running and the NYC Marathon, and how it’s like 3.5 weeks away. But I’m pretty sure the entire world (or at least my immediate world) is a little over my tunnel vision running chats.

Although, I have to say, I never turn down the opportunity to talk about food. In fact, most of my time spent training (no matter what sport) is spent thinking about food. When Nicole and I were training for our first marathon, we would get through all the long runs by talking about what we were going to eat for dinner afterwards. We would also talk about recipe development, and whenever we got really excited about it, all of the sudden we’d realize our pace was way faster. What can I say? I’m totally motivated by food.

I made these as a gift for our neighbors. When we went to Tucson this summer for a triathlon, we came back to realize our water was off. I called and gave the water company a few choice words about how we had paid our bill, and I didn’t appreciate having our water turned off. We always turn off the water inside the house (we have a history of leaks…it’s fun…), but this was the outside water. So, as I’m yelling at them, I hear Steve outside talking to our neighbors, and I realize they had turned off our water, not the water company. Whoops.

Apparently, we had sprung a huge leak OUTSIDE, and after hours of it running into the street, they had come over and turned the water off for us. They were super cool about it, but I insisted on doing at least something to thank them, so I made these muffins. I love banana muffins/bread/cake/etc., and I’ve made a lot of variations, but I wanted to make these special, so I roasted the bananas first, and the deep flavor that comes from roasting them was so amazing. Sweeter, deeper banana flavor, and with the perfect crumb, these are the perfect way to say thank you. To other people, or to yourself. 😉