Sandra Lee reveals how she's celebrating her first birthday cancer-free

Sandra Lee has a lot to celebrate!

The TV chef turned 50 on July 3, marking her first birthday since beating breast cancer last year -- and she's living it up as such.

"My girl gang and my guy gang threw me a 50th birthday party that was really awesome and I had a fantastic time and it was fun. And I will be celebrating 50 all year round. I have stuff planned all year," she told AOL in an exclusive interview.

Lee revealed her diagnosis in May 2015 and underwent a double mastectomy the same week. She announced she was cancer-free five months later in September. Lee admits she was "very, very, very lucky" to have caught the cancer early, but it was all thanks to frequent screenings as a result of her family medical history.

She was also lucky to have a sister who stayed with her throughout her treatment and a supportive family at home. But throughout her treatment, the former "Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee" star dreamt of all the things she wanted to do when she was cancer-free.

"I had something to focus on other than just being sick, which I think you need a little bit. You need your brain to take a little bit of a rest from the feeling of being overwhelmed when you are sick because it's overwhelming," she said.

Some of those "dreams" culminated in a major fundraising effort involving Mastercard cardholders. Lee recently teamed up with Mastercard for a dine-out program to raise $4 million for Stand Up To Cancer. From now until Aug. 19, when cardholders use their MasterCard and spend $10 or more when dining out or taking away, MasterCard will make a donation to SU2C now through August 19. Lee helped to create unique culinary experiences throughout the country.

"I asked myself -- what do I really want to do when I get out of here? What do I want to do when I'm not required to be sitting around? What are the things that I would say are priceless?" Lee said. "So I would just dream them up and create these amazing unique packages for Mastercard to put on their website to allow their cardholders to access them and to purchase them for a special occasion."

See photos of Sandra Lee through the years:

Even though Lee is willing to indulge a little this year (even biting into a Big Mac for the first time in two years), her diagnosis changed the way she views and approaches food. For one, she had to quit coffee "for a very long time" -- but she also became more cognizant of food labeling.

"I understand a lot more about what organic means, which is not much. And I was always a very healthy eater. I would always love my broccoli and my asparagus and my greens, but just because you're eating all of those things doesn't mean it's necessarily good for you if they're all covered in pesticides and chemicals," she said.

But it can be hard giving up tasty treats. The one thing she misses most?

"I used to eat a lot of Pop Tarts. I love Pop Tarts. Not the sugar coated ones, just the regular pastry with the strawberry, no icing. But that was my comfort food go-to when my grandma was alive. I just love Pop Tarts," she said.

The chef, who is known for her "semi-homemade" cooking, which incorporates packaged foods, says that her newfound revelations about food would definitely factor into how she presents cooking in the future, should she decide to have another cooking show.

"I might add some things to it, add some options. For example, you can make something really incredible with white cake box mix. Instead of water you could use lemonade or limeade or cranberry juice or blackberry juice or whatever you want to change the flavor of a basic white cake. You can use champagne. But you can also substitute it with yogurt. So I would probably give you more options."

Check out the full, curated list of culinary experiences on Priceless.com, including a birthday cake designed and delivered by Sandra herself.

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