Farmer's market haul 8/2, stretching food, and moods

Last week, I was surprised at how much food I had left over from the previous week. I was trying to figure it out because it felt like I had been eating my usual diet, for the most part, and I didn't think I'd overbought by that much the week before. In retrospect, I realized that I had changed a few things form what I'd been doing for the weeks before.
For one thing, I made more things that were combinations of foods. For example, I made a ratatouille based on This recipe form Culinate.com, and I made salsa, and I made a pasta sauce. All were tomato based using the second tomatoes I'd bought previously. While they also used other vegetables, they didn't use as much of those as I had.
I realized that before last week, I'd been eating a lot of single foods. For example, I'd roast eggplant or zucchini and I'd slice up a cucumber. When I eat like that, it's easier to keep track of how much is being eaten because I'M aware that I put half the cucumber in the container, and three small eggplants, or whatever.
I guess I was unintentionally doing things that would stretch my vegetables out because I tended to eat more grains and starches with the prepared dishes.

This gets to the other things that was happening for the last couple of weeks: I've been stressed by somethings going on in my family and fighting a mild depression and it's making my diet go off kilter.

My moods are very much affected by what I eat. I know this about myself. I know that eating two much sugar and carbohydrates in the morning without balancing it with protein or fat will make me really cranky by lunch time. I also know that when I"m stressed I have that common reaction of wanting to eat comfort foods that are easy and quick and not generally as well balanced as I try to be.

Because I was having the internal argument of eat what I felt like eating vs eat what I knew I should eat, I wasn't eating as much as I should of anything and that was making me even cranker because I was feeling like I was denying myself things that would make me feel better in the short run. Sometimes, when you argue with yourself, one of you becomes that recalcitrant teenager who sort of knows that the voice of reason is right but refuses to acknowledge it.

So, this week, my goal is to get my diet back on track and spend time investigating moods and food from other people's perspectives.
There are a couple of websites I want to spend some time on:

Mind.org: Food and mood
MoodFoods

I'll also peruse the medical and public health literature (if you don't' already use Pubmed, you should. It's amazing how much of the medical and scientific literature is available and understandable).

From the farmer's market this week:

eggs- $1.75
3 zucchini- $1
3 green peppers $1
2 LB kale $2
1/2 gallon milk $3.50
rhubarb (seems like it's never going to end this year) $3.50
onions $2
Black beans $3 (so much more expensive than buying then canned or dried but worth it)
6 ears corn $2.50
$20.25 total

Not bad. I'm really going to make myself eat it all too!