I play using a custom modpack. I'd upload it but I think there are a few in there that say "you may not use this in modpacks" blablabla. But here's a list of my mods, if you want to try it out. It's designed around playing on peaceful, but still having a survival challenge; you have to eat, and you can't eat the same foods repeatedly or they lose their nutritional value. Also, crops grow very slowly. So you have to balance your diet while you try to carve out an empire in the wilderness. I'm also using Sildur's Vibrant Shaders, which adds another layer of difficulty since it's so very dark at night (makes exploring at night a dangerous challenge, and I have definitely fallen into ravines and such even holding a torch).
Minecraft version: 1.7.10
Forge (latest)
Liteloader (latest)
Optifine (latest, ultra)
CodeChickenCore
AppleCore
Mantle
ShadersModCore
Zan's Minimap
Chicken Shed
Better Storage
BiblioCraft
BiblioWoods
Biomes O'Plenty
BuildCraft (included for pipes, though I'm debating removing this one)
Dynamic Lights (not necessary with shaders though)
Ex Nihilo
Forestry
Growthcraft (incl. apples, bamboo, bees, cellar, core, fishtrap, grapes, hops, rice -- don't need bees or rice but I forgot to take them out before starting the world, so I just left them there)
Hunger Overhaul
Not Enough Items (+ NEIaddons)
Pam's DesertCraft
Pam's HarvestCraft
Pam's Mob Drop Crops
Pam's WeeeFlowers
Spice of Life (goes with hunger overhaul)
Tinker's Construct
WAILA
Wild Caves
I think that's everything. If anyone wants to try it out, I'll put it on my dropbox and make a link, but I'll send it only through PMs so I don't anger the mod creators.