I'm going to start a raised garden. I have 4 tomato plants, 4 pepper plants, and some basil and chives.
The problem is I have an area in my yard that gets plenty of sun from sunrise to late afternoon; however, I live on a hill in a canyon and the wind can be very strong (daily).
I also have the side of my house, which blocks most of the wind but would limit the plants to afternoon sunlight.

Which should take priority - more hours of sunlight or more protection from the wind?

Sunlight.
Make the sides of your beds high, 2x20s or tongue and groove 2x4s stacked up to 24 inches.
I would go with the tongue and groove as you can raise it or lower it.

You will still have foot of soil plus or minus but a good part of the young plants will be protected.
When they get older you can use a cage to help support them.

The most sun let's you grow the most.
If the area gets sheltered by the wind the light levels might very very restricting in terms of what might do well.

Do you want to grow plants? Or grow less wind??

I'm sure the most damaging winds come from one direction only. Could you build some sort of wind break on the upwind side?

Here, we have the the Washow Zephyr winds that blow from the west. I have a 6 ft tall fence about 6 ft from the edge of my raised veggie garden that protects it from the strongest winds without losing sun.