Staple cooking: Curried Vegan Red Lentil-Barley-Quinoa stew

SO, if you caught my other (amazing Chicken Vegetable Soup Recipe), you know I'm into big batches of stuff that keeps for at least a week so you can keep eating off of it. This is one of those recipes that my roommate will live off of for a couple weeks. The best part of this stew is if you're low-carb, you can stick with just the stew and maybe add some plain yogurt (we also add tart cranberry sauce because we're freaks). If you're carbo-loading, you can pour the stew over some hot brown basmati rice.

2 tbsp light olive oil (can be extra virgin, but you better be *really* good at judging oil temperatures)
1 large brown onion, diced
3 tbsp garlic-ginger paste (less if you hate flavor)
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
3 stalks of celery - diced, including leaves
1 medium-to-large sweet potato, peeled and diced
3 yukon gold potatoes, diced (peeled if you're feeling fancy)
1 large rutabaga, peeled and diced
1 large parsnip (if you're into that kind of thing) peeled and diced
1 cup red lentils
1/4 cup barley
1/2 cup quinoa
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 jar curry sauce (I use korma or sweet yellow curry, but masala is probably better if you're watching your fat calories)
8 cups water
Sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Heat oil in a huge stew pot over medium-high heat.
Toss the mirepoix into the hot oil in the pot and stir to coat. Salt liberally with sea salt to draw out excess water.
Saute the mirepoix in the bottom of the pot until the onions are translucent.
Toss in the garlic-ginger paste and give a good stir.
Toss in the rest of the root vegetables and stir. Cook for about 5 minutes, occasionally stirring thoroughly.
Toss in the lentils and stir for about 2 minutes to let them get a little toasted
Toss in the barley and quinoa and stir.
Toss in the dry spices and stir.
Pour in the curry sauce and stir. Cook for a couple more minutes.
Pour in the water, cover tightly. When it comes to boil, reduce heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes.
Taste to make sure vegetables and lentils are done. If not, give another 15 minutes.
Add salt and black pepper to taste. Shouldn't need much salt.
Mash the mixture slightly if you want less texture, but personally texture is half the attraction.

Store leftovers in huge containers and enjoy the laziness of infinity ready-to-eat meals.

Makes about 15-20 1-cup servings.