My Favorite Recipes: Meet Crystal Langley

As the new writer of the "My Favorite Recipes" column, I wanted to introduce myself. Most people know me as an agent at Farmers Insurance in Colfax, but not many know me outside of work.

After growing up in Phoenix, Ariz., I sustained quite a culture shock after moving to St. John when I was in high school.

One day the parents decided they were tired of big city living and moved the family up to Washington. They had decided on St. John after meeting a friend who lived there and thought it was a quaint town.

I went from a school of 4,000 to a school of 95 students. I thought the change would be very hard, but found it to be so easy, like I had always belonged in the small town. I loved the small town feel, the friendliness of everyone and I made lifelong friends in a small community. I hope my children will get to experience that as well.

After high school I moved to Spokane for two very long years. I hated not knowing my neighbors and missed the sense of community I had in St. John.

The day 9/11 happened in 2001, I moved home. I decided right then and there my children would grow up in a community, not a city. We packed up and moved everything we had to Endicott, where I purchased a house. We have been here for the past 18 years.

Having four boys, my life has been taking care of my children. My oldest son graduated high school last year, so I'm down to three at home! I stay very busy tending to my boys and working full time as an agent for the Charlie Appel Insurance Agency. Between owning my home, managing my boys with doctors' visits, school, sports, extracurricular activities, etc... my social life has taken a back burner. Even though I stay busy, I do try very hard to stay involved in the community.

Working at Farmers Insurance has certainly helped with getting to know the people in the community. Working in Colfax has prompted me to enroll my children in the Colfax School District. My boys have absolutely loved it and have been so fortunate to have the educational and athletic opportunities provided to them by this district. I have watched them all grow and flourish this past year and as a working mother, it is so very important that I get to see them right after school and spend all the time with them that I can. Being a mother is first and foremost to me, and having a job where they can join me at the office every day after school has been absolutely amazing! I'm very lucky to have a family-oriented boss. I am able to keep my hours at work around the kid's hours at school and I love it. I am currently listing my home for sale in Endicott and planning to transition into a home in Colfax.

I am so blessed for my children to have the same love of baseball as I do and all of them have played since they were four-years-old. When my oldest three were younger, I was the volunteer tee-ball coach for Endicott for almost eight years. Now that my children are in the Colfax school district, I hope to stay involved in all of their sports as well. The sense of belonging to a team and enjoying the small town feel of Colfax, I am so pleased with the decision to move the kids here. Next year I will have three boys in different parts of the school-grade school, middle school, and high school! We are all excited for the challenge.

As a family we also share a love of the outdoors. We love traveling and seeing new places. Our favorite thing to do is to pick a new location within driving distance and spend a weekend exploring. Seeing something new and finding waterfalls along the way is our favorite pastime. We also enjoy fishing, hiking, learning to hunt, and anything to do with the water!

We enjoy exploring so much that several years ago I decided we would pick a new topic for our summer project and spend time together researching it and exploring it. Our first project (and my favorite to date) was learning about the myths and history of Rock Lake. It's a great bonding time for my boys and they have to work together to research and locate information on it. We have some pretty great stories we learned about the legends of the lake. We spent many weekends that summer exploring all sides of the lake and searching for Chief Kamiakin's famous unmarked grave. We have a blast learning the history of places.

I am hoping that writing this column will not only allow me to meet new people in the community and learn about them, but to meet many new friends as well!

Recipes:

Beef and Broccoli

1-1/4 lbs. flank steak, thinly sliced

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 cups broccoli florets

2 tsp. fresh minced ginger

1 tsp. minced garlic

1/4 cup oyster sauce

1/4 cup beef broth

1 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. corn starch

1 tsp. soy sauce

Salt and pepper, to taste

Cook beef in one teaspoon oil and set aside. Fry the broccoli, garlic and ginger until tender, approximately four minutes. Meanwhile, stir remaining ingredients in a bowl. Add beef to cooked broccoli and pour sauce over mixture. Simmer until heated through and serve.

Pistachio Pudding Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 3.4 ounce pistachio pudding mix

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1-1/4 cups flour

1 cup chopped pistachios

Cream together butter and brown sugar until combined. Add pudding mix, baking soda and salt. Once combined, add flour, then nuts.

Refrigerate for one hour. Roll into two-inch balls and bake for nine to 11 minutes, or until lightly browned.