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Martha Stewart spoke to Us Weekly, I guess in a brief red carpet interview, where they about her guilty pleasure food. It’s kind of pedestrian, for Martha. Maybe that’s why she considers it a cheat food. She can have the most decadent and fancy meals in the world, she often makes them, but her cheat food is one of the easiest and most accessible. It’s processed single slice cheese. I assume it’s the wrapped kind too, but I could be wrong.
“My guilty pleasure – single slices of American cheese,” [Martha Stewart], 78, told Us Weekly exclusively on Monday, February 17, when asked to name her favorite cheat food.
While a slice of cheese doesn’t hold a candle to other celebrity cheat meals… Stewart has reason to feel a bit shy about her consumption of the popular burger topping.
Unlike most cheeses, which are made by curdling milk, American cheese is a processed product that is made from a blend of milk, milk fats and solids, with other fats and whey protein concentrate, which means it’s typically packed with additives.
Though Stewart clearly makes an exception when it comes to American cheese, she told Us she tries to steer clear of foods that are loaded with preservatives and other harmful chemicals. As she put it, “I really don’t like truffle oil and avoid foods that are synthetic and overly processed.”
When it comes to foods she can’t live without, however, [Martha] proved she likes to keep things healthy at heart. “My daily morning green juice!” she exclaimed.
Look at US telling us all the crap that’s in fake cheese. I don’t care! Last night I ate nachos with that orange cheese goo on them and they were delicious. At least Martha is being honest. I never really cared for sliced American cheese. It could sit in my fridge for months. If there’s a nice block of very sharp Cheddar in the drawer I will devour it, which is why I don’t keep it around. I’m like that with salami and pepperoni too, I love it. (I’m allergic to beef and pork now, but that will pass and I will go back to eating it. The turkey pepperoni is just ok.) My go to cheat food, which I eat way too regularly, is Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and/or Jelly Bellies. On a bad/good night (last night, it was Fat Tuesday!) I’ll have both. I start off the day with a green smoothie made with kale, bananas and frozen fruit. Martha and I have that in common although I suspect she drinks just the green juice and that someone prepares it for her. If only I could be satisfied with a couple slices of cheese as a treat. I would unwrap a couple, get bored, and move on. That’s why I eat pistachios in the shell. It’s so much work you can’t overeat them. After writing this I wondered if there was a way to keep myself away from the ice cream and there’s a lock for that! I’m going to ask for that for my birthday.
Ooh look at this:
photos credit: Getty and via Instagram
My love of cheese no more r.i.p. my gallbladder.
Sometimes I like a good bologna sandwich with American cheese, so I’ll go sit with Martha in the corner. But I do drink a chocolate protein and kale smoothie for breakfast every day so maybe I’ll redeem myself there.
I love slice of crappy pre-wrapped cheese in my grilled cheese sandwich. I live in Switzerland so we don’t get Kraft singles (even the single wrapped cheese is usually gruillere or emmantal), but whenever I’m home visiting family and friends (in Canada) I’ll have it at least once. I know it’s processed crap, but it’s just so good.
Yes! I only like grilled cheese sandwiches if they are made with Kraft singles! That’s all Kraft singles are good for though. I wouldn’t put them on burgers or other sandwiches or eat them alone as a snack.
There is something about a grilled cheese that makes it okay. I up my game at home with sourdough, fig jam and haverti slices, but if I’m in a diner….
I will join you with the Oscar Mayer bologna and Kraft singles sandwich. Throw in some generic brand salty potato chips and I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor. That’s my childhood summed up right there.
Mmmmm… put the chips on the sandwich and yum! Potato bread! Mayo! (or Miracle Whip if you lean that way) Ooogh, now I’m hungry.
Oops, double post, sorry.
Wait… like a Kraft single?! I cannot imagine Martha Stewart unwrapping a single piece of cheese!
I’ve seen her interviewed years ago and she mentioned the Kraft singles back then, I think she must actually like it because I’ve heard it in several interviews, like before she went to jail even.
I love sliced American cheese, but only from the deli. I cant stand Kraft singles. I think its a holdover from my childhood, my dad loves American cheese, and my parents still keep an emergency pound in the freezer. I love cheese in general, but I find with most sandwiches I like a milder cheese, so i’ll go for provolone or American (sometimes mozzarella depending on the sandwich.)
If I’m eating a stronger cheese, i’m probably just eating it by itself or with a cracker or something.
Deli white American is the best!
Land o Lakes American from the deli is THE BEST. Don’t even care which kind (lower sodium, white, whatever). My all-time favorite crap food.
I go land of lakes white American. Agree, it’s the best American cheese. Burgers, grilled cheese, cold in a ham sandwich. It’s delicious.
My husband is repulsed by American Cheese (like Kraft Singles), but I LOVE it. I know it’s pretty much garbage nutrition wise, but I can’t help myself.
They’re delicious, yes. I think Kraft singles are made of skim milk, gelatin, salt, and old Yellow Pages phone books. Still delicious.
I’m with Martha except I only like American cheese melted. So my cheat food is In n Out’s animal style fries with their hot chili’s.
I’m going to out myself as a huge southerner, but here are my two cheat meals that I allow myself to eat a few times a year: A Publix egg salad sub with double Boar’s Head American Cheese or a homemade pimento cheese sandwich. Both are kind of gross to look at, full of processed crap, and absolutely divine.
Publix subs are the BEST.
I looooooove Publix. Going there today to wander around and find something tasty.
I’ll take any kind of Pub Sub, thanks.
I love those green chairs.
Ben and Jerry’s makes frozen yogurt/light ice cream, half the calories and all the wacky flavor. My kids have been on a B&J kick so I’ve been buying it a lot.
I make secret green smoothies for breakfast. Mostly fruit with some kale or spinach snuck in.
Okay, here is my favorite terrible snack: a Tostito chip, a quarter of a slice of American cheese (yes, from the plastic wrap per slice) with a hamburger dill pickle slice on top. Omg salt/preservative heaven.
The Ben and Jerry’s light is a mixed bag but the moophoria cookies and cream is really good!
My whole family hates American cheese but will eat Velveeta hahah
Same boat!
I read somewhere (I have a memory for strange things!) that Barbra Streisand hosted Martha for a meal and served Cool Whip instead of whipped cream as a dessert topping, kind of as a tease. (If you’re Barbra you can get away with this.) Martha’s response was “This is Cool Whip? It’s not bad!”
Ha!
Once you quickly whip up some heavy cream and add some vanilla and a bit of brown sugar, you can’t go back. It takes just a couple of minutes. Nom nom nom.
Funny Martha
Okay, I’m a Southerner and I know true pimento cheese is made using cheddar freshly shredded from a block. But my mother, who grew up during the Great Depression in a small town outside Dothan, made it using Velveeta and I love it that way. Not gonna hang my head in shame.
At some point I’m going to have to stop eating cheese again. I just love it so. MUCH. The whole family does. From Velveeta and American to imported, cloth cheeses aged forever (aged goat Gouda OMG), cheeses from cow, goat and sheep and all the known favorites from Greece, Italy, France, Netherlands, and of course domestic. It’s terrible. It’s as though cheeses are our wine because, you know, spouse’s alcoholism (although in secret I crave wine with my cheese lol).
The family is so into cheeses and cured meats and the like that, for holidays, they prefer grazing tables spilling with charcuterie boards and platters a la American style with the addition of a variety of olives, nuts, dried fruits, crackers, breads, spreads and dips. It’s insane. And it’s actually more expensive than turkey, roast beast or ham dinners. They even prefer it over slow-cooked brisket, tamales and fajitas. :O
Dammit Celebitchy. All this because of Martha Stewart and American cheese. The hubs bday is tomorrow. Guess I know what we’re doing lol. I’ll tell him it’s yours and Martha’s fault.
That’s the secret to my mac and cheese. 2/3 aged artisanal white cheddar (from cows raised on spring-fed grass by Trappist monks in Tierra del Fuego) and 1/3 Velveeta!
Lmao @Malificent! It sounds amazing, mixing with Velveeta is funny but I hear ya, YUM. It’s the, “Cows raised on spring-fed grass by trappist monks in Tierra del Forego,” that’s hysterical. Expensive cheeses have a story, I know, but I can imagine me telling that to my family. They’d laugh, say great and dig in. I keep telling myself I’m going to start making certain cheeses at home. When I add mascarpone to savory dishes there’s never leftovers, ever. Homemade ricotta and mascarpone sound yummers.
Lol. Mine too! My mac and cheese blend is hand-grated sharp cheddar, Parmigiano for depth of flavor, Gouda, Jack cheese for the stretch factor, then 4-6 squares of Land-O-Lakes white American and half a bag of Velveeta shreds. Never any leftovers.
There is NOTHING like Velveeta in mac-n-cheese. No other cheese (or as I call it, “nearly-cheese-type-product.”) melts the same, nor gives the perfect consistency of Velveeta. It sort of binds the whole thing together with its salty gooeyness. You can’t buy any imitations or store brands either, they are not the same.
“That’s why I eat pistachios in the shell. It’s so much work you can’t overeat them.”
you haven’t seen me eat them! It’s definitely possible lol
Okay but you’re not eating the shell, right? The work involves de-shelling them and not chomping on shells, I hope.
My cheat is popcorn… made in the microwave. So terrible, but I love it.
Put nutritional yeast on it and it becomes healthy… that’s a science-y fact. 😉
And then it tastes like cheesy popcorn
Yum
My cheat are too many to list but
My favorite cheat lunch is a copy cat Olive Garden salad with way too much Parmesan cheese, croutons and OH salad dressing
My cheat food is probably any kind of take-out fast food. I haven’t had fast food since the summer I think. Once in a while a craving hits and you just gotta do it !
Martha really is a bad ass. Back in the 90s and 00s there was a slight condescending tone to her books and programs that had the potential to grate like Goop… but she came, she saw, she conquered, she did her time like a champ and went back to work like a professional. Nothing but respect. Enjoy that cheese, girl.
My girl gets me.
I’m with her on that one. If I have to choose a cheat food and one that would slightly mess my digestion and skin up for a day or two, I should keep this in mind, lol.
She looks frigging amazing. First rate and subtle work. She looks like a queen.
American CBitchies: what does American sliced cheese actually taste like? I’ve never had it, and wondered if it were equivalent to any English cheeses. Is it mild, mature (sharp), or somewhere in the middle; creamy or crumbly; does it have an aftertaste? It’s beta carotene that gives it that orange hue, right?
Hmmm…I’m not that good at describing tastes but I would say it’s mild. It’s not a very complex flavor. it’s sticky, not creamy and definitely not crumbly. It melts really nicely and doesn’t get greasy when melted which makes it perfect for grilled cheese sandwiches or macaroni and cheese (and little else! Lol)
Thank you, @ chillywilly! Macaroni cheese is, of course, one of the four food groups!
It looks like tesco’s mild slices but instead of being orange it’s white, just like the “laughing cow” cheese. It’s creamy but very thin so…
That doesn’t sound…wonderful to be honest, Marion! Would you say it’s an acquired taste, childhood nostalgia etc?
I can’t stand the texture of american cheese in those wrappers. It’s like plastic. Cheddar cheese is my weakness. And I also have a problem if there are tortilla chips in the house with Cholula hot sauce. I put a few drops on each one and eat them that way.. till they are all gone.