We try to eat these types of foods for the same reason. One of the hardest thing for me was to cut waaaay back on the cheese. I keep some low fat string cheese on hand for when I just NEED to have a bit. Frigo is a good brand as some of them taste like cardboard.

As for the margarine, we use Smart Balance which is supposed to be a healthy formula and no transfat.

One thing I would emphasize is BEANS. We have red beans (dark red kidney beans) and rice (prepared with canned tomatoes, sauteed celery and green pepper). We also make a bean soup prepared with Great Northern Beans. And a similar beans and rice dish prepared with Butter Beans.