Another meal to nowheresville. I make what she wants and she doesn't like the way I make it. I make it the way I made it before when she liked it and now she discovers she doesn't like it. She keeps saying "I want something that tastes good". What she liked last month, she hates this month. She'll ask for something and then say she's not up for it. I know she's elderly and sick but this is nerve racking. I wish someone else would take over and hear all the food bitches because I'm getting tire of food fights. Just thought I'd vent.
It may be that very strong tastes will overcome the loss of smell. My husband liked V-8 juice but always put Tabasco sauce in it. Grapefruit juice seemed tastier than orange juice. Crushed red pepper flakes became a stable on our table. Things like sauerkraut or jalapenos might appeal to your mother. My husband generally enjoyed sweets even after he lost the sense of smell. You might try a light sprinkling of sugar over the food, to perk up the taste buds. And serve lots of canned peaches and applesauce and pudding and ice cream -- sweets with at least a little redeeming nutritional value.
Vent away! I know how hard this is for the cook. Try not to take it personally. Blame the clumps of alpha synuclein protein in your mother's brain, and realize that she isn't doing this to annoy you. (Although that is the end result, isn't it?) So vent away!