I guess it's time to stop searching from the url bar (sorry, "awesomebar") and create a local html file as the startup and new tab page, with search boxes for all your fav engines. Just like the good old days.
I now just have "Blank Page" set for my Homepage, new windows, and new tabs.
I just tried setting a local file in Firefox and it seems to work again, so I may go back to that.
I may have to simply use the URL bar with data collection opted-out, as I'd rather not bother with vetting and installing a custom open source extension to override the new tab behavior.