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Have you tried cloning the plants?

I have done this successfully out in the garden, early, while the plants are still in vegetative growth phase with tomatoes. Sad to say, when I took cuttings in the fall and tried to propagate them indoors over the winter, both in dirt, under lights and in a hydroponic machine, I got roots, but no other growth.

Sweet Peppers and tomatoes are related. I am not sure if hot peppers are, as well. However, I would try to take multiple cuttings in the early summer, get them established over the season and move the youngest peppers indoors in fall. Then clone those. If only one survives til Spring, it can provide cuttings all summer. Worth a try. A friend has successfully dug up her sweet peppers when we had early frost, put them in an 8" pot and finished them indoors. So, clones kept potted out in the garden should be capable of being moved indoors when frost hits. There is a site on the net (can't recall the name right now) where someone cloned one tomato plant for several seasons. I think he was in Alaska, so he did some indoor growing, obviously.

OTOH, I priced starting seeds against buying plants this year and since I had none of the seed starting equipment except some lights, when I added up the mats/peat pots, etc, etc against under $4/ plant, buying plants was cheaper. I am starting several dwarf and miniature tomato plants from seed, and I just started a Red Popper mini red pepper plant, using the hydroponic machines. I love container gardening in winter and I have not had great luck with regular sized plants....my best indoor dirt tomato (indeterminate 4th of July) had a bunch of large lovely fruit and because I staked the wrong stem, it fell over and cracked the stem. (sniff).

I am going to fill my deck with dwarf plants, starting them every 3 weeks from as soon as the seeds arrive thru fall. I really hope this next winter sees us with fresh tomatoes all year long. (I don't have the right spot for a greenhouse of any type). I have been fairly successful with lettuce all winter, this year. Red peppers are new for me and the ones I tried last summer took too long and didn't endure a wet cool spell at all. I got 8 peppers, finally, from 3 plants.

http://www.containerseeds.com/products/veggies/peppers.html

This site specializes in miniatures and plants suitable for containers. Most of them are open-pollinated. Perhaps you can find one your husband will like. There are several hot peppers listed.

Gardening of any sort is challenging and an on-going learning experience for me. While, of course, I want a wonderful harvest, in winter, I am just happy to see the new, young green plant emerge and start to grow. Using compact florescent grow lights keeps my extra electric usage in check. I figured it out for this current winter and the 3 hydroponic machines and one shelf w/2 long 24-watt grow tubes is costing me about $5/month. Worth it! I am pretty sure I harvested enough lettuce and romaine this winter to equal my electric bill for them.