SuperBowl50 is around the corner. It is a HUGE milestone to the football community. There will be several SuperBowl parties everywhere! There will be finger foods galore. With finger foods, comes the notorious dips & chutneys that are oh, so delicious!! Sometimes, the finger food itself may be healthy, but the dip is calorie-laden, artery-clogger! It takes a little more thinking and creativity to make the dips healthy and low-calorie.

I am therefore bringing to you a collective of dips & chutneys from my blog that are low-calorie, low-fat, and are vegan or vegetarian. Some of them are spicy but the spice level can be adjusted as per individual spice tolerance. I hope you can/will find something that works for you! Click on the individual title to view the recipe in its entirety.

Pico de gallo

Ambuli ( Green Mango) Chutney

Cilantro-Coconut Chutney/Dip

Coconut-Ginger Chutney/Dip

Cranberry Chutney

Loshne Chutney/Garlic Chutney

Ghosale Sheera Chutney ( Ridge Gourd Peel Chutney)

Peanut Chutney

Pomegranate peel and ridge-gourd peel chutney

If you have not yet found yet what you like, check this collective out!! I am sure you will find something that you will absolutely love!!

I am bringing these dips/chutneys to the parties at Throwback Thursday, Fiesta Friday and Saucy Saturday. Lily @ Little Sweet Baker and Julianna @ Foodie On Board are Angie's co-hosts this week at Fiesta Friday.

Super Bowl Collective of Vegetarian Appetizers, Dips & Desserts

Cooking made easy:

Most chutneys, can be made ahead of time in big batches and frozen. When needed, thaw and use it. Some dips like anything with avocado or yogurt is best made a few hours prior!

Tip for healthy living:

Here are some tips to help control indulging at SuperBowl parties, especially if you are a diabetic. These were shared kindly by a very proactive and enterprising person, Ms. Geeta Kakade, who runs a diabetic support group on Facebook.

Special days like Superbowl Sunday generate excitement, anticipation and looking ahead. This is just an example but there are lots for special days in each of our lives surrounding them. When they revolve around food and get togethers here's what I do to protect myself as a diabetic....

1. I might decide to throw caution to the wind and eat whatever I want to at the get together (esp. if I've had a very 'good' week with diet/exercise and test results.)
'Whatever I want to/feel like' still involves moderation so it doesn't result in high sugars followed by a sleepless night followed by a day when I can't do much else except rest and get everything back to normal.
2. I do the above sometimes, but nowadays I'd rather err on the side of caution. I make sure there are things to eat that are good for me and first eat them.
As far as possible I skip the carbs.
3. When it comes to my favorite course...dessert...I taste all the other stuff practicing portion control. My idea of portion control is like this...a one mm thick slice of a pie, one inch long...I did this at Thanksgiving and tasted about nine desserts this way and still didn't exceed my 'portion size'...it worked so well and I had normal test results the next day, so I will continue doing this. It satisfies my dinosaur sweet tooth and mentally I don't feel like a food martyr even though people look at my plate in great surprise and then pity!
3. If anyone asks/comments I tell them about diabetes and the way high and low sugars impact my life and assure them I'm happy/have become used to, the choices I make and don't even want to eat large portions any more. Whether they believe me or not is their concern, not mine.

I hope you will protect yourself by planning ahead to face your next food challenge.