I tried to be normal

One of my favorite lines in Dexter is when he describes his struggle to fit in with "normal" and he has to constantly remember to observe other people's reactions in order to assess what outward emotion he should similarly portray to fit in (since, as a sociopath, he does not react to most mundane life experiences with empathy).

I felt this way myself this morning watching the USA-Algeria World Cup match, though I don't have the sociopath excuse. I was watching at work; they held an event which doubled as a breakfast potluck (which is why I was there). As everyone was wildly cheering and whooping when USA scored a goal in the 91st minute, I just felt complete ambivalence. While I enjoyed watching the match, I could care less who scored and I've been baffled for weeks as everyone has been avidly following the matches and seem desperately rooted and impassioned about "their team(s)".

Anyway, since I've missed cooking fatty, sugary, carb-loaded food, I couldn't resist not going -- and I do appreciate the athleticism, dedication, and skill it must take to be a world class athlete -- even if I don't care who wins. I made an Apple Pecan Strata based on this recipe with a lot of modifications. I also made the recipe titled Brunch Strata on the same recipe site. Both were good, though I liked the Apple Pecan one more. Here's the recipe with my modifications -- I would make this again for sure if I had to bring food to a brunch.

And yes, I'm horribly embarrassed I used canned apple pie filling, but I was short on time.

Apple Pecan Strata

1 (1 pound) cinnamon loaf bread
1 (8 oz) package neufchatel or cream cheese
1 (21 oz) can apple pie filling or equivalent cooked apples with spices (1.5-2 c cooked apples)
5 eggs
2 c half-and-half
4 T butter, melted
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Topping:
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c flour
4 T cold butter
1/2 c roughly chopped pecans

1. Dry out bread slices by toasting in the oven at 200 degrees for 20-30 minutes

2. Spread cream cheese thickly onto bread. You probably won't use the full 8 oz package.

3. Cube bread slices and place in a greased 9" x 13" (I used 11" x 7") baking dish.

4. Beat eggs, half-and-half, melted butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt.

5. Cover bread cubes with apple filling. Then pour egg mixture on top of that.

6. Place plastic wrap on top of mixture, and add some weight (e.g. bags of rice) so that the bread cubes are pressed down into the liquid. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

7. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (covered in foil), and then add the pecan topping and bake for 20-30 more minutes (uncovered).

8. Prepare pecan topping to be ready half-way through baking time. Mix brown sugar and flour together. Using fingers or a fork, crumble the cold butter into the sugar-flour to form small beads. Add in the chopped pecans and pour on top of half-way cooked strata.

Notes: The pecan topping isn't completely necessary, but I will say it beautifies the dish and that's important when serving others. The dish also held up well in terms of cooking it the night before and reheating the next morning (work had those sterno heated catering trays which I used to reheat slowly).