Hi Thrifty Bill - I am of the same (hand-start everything) persuasion. I use grease instead of anti-seize, and I really don't think I've ever encountered any stuck component that had one or the other.

I am running road cranks on the MTB since that's what I typically have around. As I recall the inner ring was the same as the big chain-wheel on the old MTB crank so it works out.