Crock Pot Seafood Chowder; Meat Kugel Appetizer.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

My crock pot hasn't seen much use in the last 20 years, except to keep chili warm at potluck dinners. But I was reacquainted with its basic use, to make dinner in the morning to serve at night, when Kathleen Fitzgerald requested the fish chowder recipe from a Rival crock pot booklet.

Lots of readers not only still use their crock pots, but had the original booklets that came packed inside. "I found the recipe Kathleen Fitzgerald remembered in the little book that came with my crock pot, which I got as a gift in the 1970s," Muriel Lander e-mailed.

Tips: "Serve in large bowls with crusty French bread," advises Ann Cochran of Fort Lauderdale. Lynn Probst of Islamorada says types of fish to use include haddock, cod or snapper. Barbara Bell Matuszewski of …