I am not sure which option is the best, but I use Mint 14 with a non-PAE kernel during one month, and when I do automatic package upgrades, it never wants to upgrade the kernel packages.
From packages.ubuntu.com, Precise, I dowloaded packages linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic_3.2.0-38.61_i386.deb ,
linux-headers-3.2.0-38_3.2.0-38.61_all.deb and linux-headers-3.2.0-38-generic_3.2.0-38.61_i386.deb . Then I followed the tutorial on
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/918 . During the tutorial, from a terminal outside the chroot, I copied the new Linux kernel DEB package (linux-image) and the two new kernel headers DEB packages (linux-headers and linux-headers-generic) into the chroot.
Then from a terminal outside the chroot:
mount --bind /dev /<path-to-chroot>/dev
From the chroot terminal:
apt-get purge linux-headers*
dpkg -i linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic_3.2.0-38.61_i386.deb
dpkg -i linux-headers-3.2.0-38_3.2.0-38.61_all.deb
dpkg -i linux-headers-3.2.0-38-generic_3.2.0-38.61_i386.deb
rm linux-image* linux-headers*
apt-get purge linux-image-generic* linux-image-3.5.0*
From a terminal outside the chroot:
umount /<path-to-chroot>/dev
From the chroot terminal:
rm /boot/grub/grub.cfg; rm /etc/resolv.conf; rm /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf
dpkg-reconfigure resolvconf (answer Yes, No, OK)
mv /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.con
Then I continued the tutorial. When I closed the chroot terminal, from a terminal outside the chroot:
mv /<path-to-chroot>/etc/resolv.con /<path-to-chroot>/etc/resolv.conf
Then I clicked the "Next" button and finished the tutorial. It makes the non-PAE ISO DVD. If you want fit it on a CD, you must remove many packages from the chroot terminal.